Hinahoho was careful in his treatment of the girl that he and Masura had come across.

Even before he had decided to remove her from the hallways of the palace and hide her away in the company of his family. He had been so careful of her size, her fear, and her modesty all while planning out what he should do with her once she was dressed and the topic of her 'occupation' brought before his king.

He had at first thought of taking some time to get to know her and perhaps marrying her. It was after all acceptable for men to have more than one woman. But after several moments of weighing the pro's and con's- had decided against it since she would likely be torn to pieces by him if he ever attempted to bed her.

She was such a small and child-like thing that she kind of reminded him of his youngest, a girl that he had adopted as his daughter when her real family had been slain as a toddler.

Then the idea of perhaps adopting the exotic beauty sleeping so peacefully in his arms had struck him as a nice idea.

And with his king's help her past as a slave could all but be erased. He was a general after all, and royalty in his own right. A daughter of his- even an adopted one- would benefit greatly from just his name alone being attached to her own.

Plus if she ever found someone worth marrying, he could provide a hefty dowry of treasures ranging from fine bolts of velvet, satins and silks and exotic furs, to gold and silver and jewels for her and her new family to live on. And she would still be his 'daughter' so he'd continue to take care of her regardless just to make sure that she and her future children weren't mistreated in any way.

Now that he thought of it, wasn't it almost time for Masura and Ja'far to marry and settle down? They were at that age. Ya know, come to think of it- Ja'far was a tad bit past that age.

And if he took her as his wife, Hinahoho certainly wouldn't have to worry about her. The man would accidentally impregnate her the first time they were together and then have to conform his life to being a family man... Lord knew that their offspring would be adorable. Especially if they took after the mother.

Curiously, ever since he had picked the girl up- she'd been strangely quiet aside from the occasional hiccup or shiver, causing Hinahoho to use one hand to sweep her long silvery hair out of her face and found that she had curled up in the crook of his arm and cried herself to sleep.

Poor child, she must have been through a truly terrible ordeal. He thought as he let her silken hair fall back into place and sighed when he caught Masura looking at him strangely. "What?" He asked in a rougher tone that he should have, the volume vibrating in his chest as the other general continued to stare at him strangely for a moment before saying,

"You're going to keep her, aren't you?" The Fanalis asked in a somewhat disbelieving tone.

"Maybe. Why?" Hinahoho replied curiously.

"It might cause you problems." Masura replied as he turned his head to look back in front of him just in time to notice that Hinahoho was trying to maneuver him into a wall as was his habit from time to time to keep the red head on his toes, and avoid running into the marble.

Hinahoho snickered at the smaller man for not paying attention, which was the wrong thing to do since at the moment his attention was on the girl safely tucked in his arms, sleeping. Thus keeping him from being able to do anything except crash to the floor when Masura picked up a table with a really heavy vase, tested it's weight for a moment with one arm and then threw it at him.

Hitting his fellow general in the back of the legs in mid step and sending the giant crashing to the stone floor with the (how did she manage to stay asleep through this debacle? Masura wondered as he continued to stare) still sleeping girl held up in the air, cradled in his large hands in an effort to keep her from being injured as Hinahoho shot the former gladiator a look that absolutely promised some serious pain later on.

Masura shrugged his broad shoulders and began walking again, pausing briefly to carefully step over the mess of the table and vase that they had both made as he shot a look at his friend that practically screamed, Bring it on.

(**********************************************************************************************************************)

Sinbad was beside himself as he ran down the halls of his palace, searching for his way ward Queen with Ja'far keeping pace easily with him. Not understanding what his king was so upset about. After all the woman was a whore, right? No king in his right mind would go nuts and try tearing his home apart to find a whore that had hidden herself from him.

Although the more he thought about the situation, the more he found it strange that a whore would run from the likes of Sinbad. The man was a known womanizer, yes. And everyone knew it, but he was also known to be a very generous lover even to women of ill repute.

So why run and hide?

Whore's were notorious for having little to no morals. Their job was to please men in any way that they desired using their bodies, and they were compensated for it handsomely. So when Sin finally stopped moving and absently reached out and placed his hand on Ja'far's shoulder- the younger man was about to ask if he had given up on his current fuck toy when he noticed that Sinbad's expression was... Devastated? Worried? Perhaps even fearful? As his king said, "Summon the generals. And my personal guard... We need to lock down the palace and it's grounds. No one comes in, no one leaves."

Frowning Ja'far was about to question him on his orders- usually Sin only reacted this way when foreign diplomats were loose in the palace. Princes and princesses, kings and- Ja'far's jaw suddenly went slack as he recalled something from one of Sinbad's old laws as king.

It was put into place so that if he should ever decide to marry and settle down, he would be able to pick and choose the person most suitable for him by having the woman put to sleep and undergoing an examination of her body. And being the king, Sinbad was one of the few people who could do the examination while the woman slept.

"Oh my god," He groaned out as he thought, No wonder I got slapped when I just barged into Sinbad's room like that. Especially if the examination had just taken place or was about to take place. Which explained a bit about his king's appearance. Either he had accepted the girl or...he had accepted the girl which meant that the woman he'd been calling a whore was his future Queen and- "Oh my god!" He practically yelled this time as realization hit him hard.

Sinbad looked over his shoulder at him and felt a slight sliver of rage towards his friend. Why had he not called the other generals yet? Why was he just standing there looking ill and yelling?

Oh. That's right, I've never introduced my future bride to anyone (for a good reason) Still, he inwardly cringed as Ja'far finally looked at him. His green eyes accusing as his glare clashed with honey gold.