Second small chapter. The rest of the chapters shall be short ones until the end.

I hated Shiruku.

She was clingy and never stopped talking. Hachi talked a lot, but it was different, she understood silence. Shiruku didn't.

I watched the clouds pass by enjoying reminiscing about my last evening with Hachi. The soft sound of footsteps made me tense. I knew it wasn't Hachi. She walked hard and heavy, hiding her old boots beneath the silk layers. These footsteps were light, a whisper across the grass. Shiruku. I held back a groan and closed by eyes, bracing myself for it. I couldn't wait for my grandmother to stop the wedding. I had spoken with her a little everyday and had overheard the arguments between her and my aunt.

"I know about the peasant." Annoyance boiled inside of me. It didn't take a wild leap to guess who she was referring to.

What about her? I asked opening one eye to look at her.

"Don't think you can hide it. My father may only be a silk merchant to you, but I'm eighty-seventh in line for the throne and I will not have my betrothed involved in an illicit affair with common riffraff."

I sighed. Shiruku's left eyelid twitched and she stomped her foot like a child.

"What could you possibly see in her? She's a scrawny little nobody, with no past and no future!" I stood up, I was a good head taller than her and she was forced to tilt her head up to look at me diminishing any dominance she may have felt in our exchange.

I locked my gaze on to hers. And that's why you'll never see it. I nodded in farewell and stepped past her, heading back towards the house.

"Don't just look at me Zhuang," she shrieked, turning to watch me leave. "Say something!"

I made my way to Hachi's room, something about my exchange with Shiruku left me with an uneasy feeling. I didn't bother to knock, neither of us saw any purpose in it. Opening the door as I usually did Hachi jumped, startled and she seemed surprised to see me. I took in her appearance, hair pulled back into a bushy ponytail, wearing rough clothes, a closed pack on the bed and an ashamed look on her face.

"I'm leaving," she blurted out, reading the confusion on my face.

Why? I was certain that question was written in every line and muscle on my body.

"I don't belong here," she answered after taking a deep breathe. Her words seemed practiced, I could tell from the dark circles under her eyes that she had spent a while rehearsing what she was going to say. "I'm a simple girl, with simple needs. I need wide open spaces, away from all these people."

"Let me get my bow."

"No."

"Alright, we'll leave just like this then."

"I'm going alone Zhuang. This is your home and your family. This is where you belong. Not with me." My heart ached and I longed to touch her, to shake her and convince her to stay or at least take me with her. I wanted to yell and I wanted to pour my heart out to her. My Bee was running again. Running from the very last bit of her past. I wanted to do so many things, I wanted to tell her we'd elope, to say that I would leave every part of my past behind me and we both could have a fresh start. She was too much like water though, gently cupped in the hands it stayed, but the more you tried to hold onto it, the quicker it fled. I must have said something, done something, that pushed her to run.

"I've only ever wanted your happiness," I managed to say, adding in the softest whisper that I doubt she heard, "even if I'm not a part of it." Hachi nodded brusquely and grabbed the pack before striding towards the door. I remained frozen, hoping that if I didn't see her leave it wouldn't hurt as much.

"Longshot?"

I tilted my head slightly to let her know I was listening.

"You were my greatest adventure." I waited until the sound of her heavy footfalls had faded away before I brushed the wetness from my face.

"Mine too," I said to the empty air. My words deafening in the silence.

I'm not sure how long I stood there for. I was praying to the spirits that she'd come back, but when I heard footsteps come down the hall they were not Hachi's.

"Grandmother." Somehow the word held both a greeting and a cry for affection. My grandmother pulled her into one of the hugs I never knew as a child, strong and smelling of earth after the rain.

"Zhuang," she said when we parted, "why didn't you go with her?"

"She didn't want me to. She said that this is my family," I sat on the bed and put my head in my hands. "She has no family and I was selfish to want to throw mine away."

"Are you sure that she truly wanted to leave?" she asked sitting next to me. "You know her best, would she set out alone?"

I wanted to say yes, but I ignored my bruises and truly thought about what she said, how her words seemed to ring true, but also rehearsed. "No." I said finally. Hachi hated to be alone, she didn't want to lose anymore people.

"I think perhaps someone may have encouraged her to leave, and to hurt you when she did so you wouldn't follow."

Anger boiled inside me, I wasn't sure if it was Hidoi or Shiruku, but I was sure both were involved question of why burned inside me. Hidoi hated me, what could she possibly gain my having me stay?

My grandmother stroked my hair. "Some people, like your aunt and that silly girl care about status and reputation very much." A faraway look appeared in her eye, as though she was watching a memory from long ago. "I used to as well, until I saw what it did to my family and I never had the chance to apologize and make up for the mistakes and hurt I caused my beloved daughter and her husband. Zhuang, I want you to be happy. Follow your heart because that is where your home is, not in the building of stone where you were raised. You've filled my old age with joy just knowing that you are alive and well. Grant an old woman the peace of knowing the last of her line is happy."

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