Day like, 9 (for me) of Quarantine: All I can think about is Obiyuki and over fanfics I wanna do (maybe resurrect my failed LoZ fic).

I'm glad that I can provide you guys who are reading some sort of entertainment as I have plenty of time to write for you, and you are willing to give time to read it. So thank you always for the kind reviews; I made this extra long for you guys.

EIGHTY-THREE - Too Much, Too Little Time

Obi's sense of peace has officially broken, and his process to revert to his old self has completed.

He gets right in front of Sophia, his knife already at her throat. He uses his free hand to push Astor away, which simultaneously pushes him into his son. She looks up at the man fearfully, seeing his infamous ambar eyes that nobody has seen in a very long time. They were filled with conviction and intimidation, with that look alone being able to kill any sort of confidence anyone has in fighting (and beating) him.

"You better pray that my father is okay," Obi murmurs, his face just an inch from Sophia's. "Because if I find out he is damaged beyond repair, your life will be at stake." She gulps fearfully and hesitantly nods, allowing Obi to pull away before going up to Zen. "Master, if I may-"

"Let's go together," Zen nods, not needing Obi to finish in order to know his request. "Izana, can you stay here with mother and keep them at bay? Whatever you want to do- just don't kill them."

Izana nods, "I will try not to. Just keep me updated on what's going on. Make sure our guards are okay."

Zen nods. "Kiki, can you guide the guards down to the dungeon? Keep these criminals arrested, and join us at the medical wing right after."

"Will do," Kiki confirmed.

"Mitsuhide, go to the front of the castle by the gates," Zen commands. "I'm not sure if the ambush is done, but we can't risk being unprepared. Get all the guards up and ready; protect the citizens of the kingdom."

"On it!" As if on cue, everyone immediately rushes to their assigned order. Zen and Obi ran as fast as they could, staying side-by-side. Zen noticed that Obi was a bit misty-eyed. He wasn't going to leave his friend alone during such a horrible time. As they ran, Izana looked at them in the distance, smiling proudly at his little brother's maturity.

"He's growing up pretty fast, huh?" Haruto whispers, watching her son wistfully in the distance. Her eyes were also teary, but her lips cracked a small smile.

"Very," Izana replies with a nod. The two then turn over to look at the knights, both pairs of blue eyes dimming. "Now, what should we do with you four?" The small Knight family didn't know what to do under the unhappy demeanor of the Wistaria's. But no good was to come to them, that was clear.

Kiki walked confidently with Clarines guards holding the chains of the now restricted, and arrested, guards that came with the Knights. They marched down the stairs with woe, tears sliding down their cheeks upon realizing their regrets and mistakes. The guard that tried killing Zen, however, was walking beside Kiki without any chain or restriction.

He was thoroughly puzzled. Kiki made sure he was no longer restricted, and even let him keep his weapons on him. His hands and legs were free. If he wanted to, he could attack Kiki, and as many men as he could to free the rest of his own men. But for some reason, Kiki's aura made his mind go against such plans and continue to follow wherever she was leading them.

"S-so you're Kiki," the guard begins to talk.

Kiki glances over at him and shakes her head, "Miss Kiki to you."

The guard fumbles an apology, "s-sorry, Miss Kiki… can I ask you something?"

"Go on."

"How come I'm not arrested like my fellow men?" The guard questions quietly. "I-I'm the one who commited the highest felony… why aren't I chained like the rest of them?"

Kiki keeps her stance, her eyes still looking forward as they walk into the dungeon. The cells, contrary to how scary they usually are, were actually illuminated with natural light and weren't so cramped. "I don't have plans of arresting you quite yet, you see."

The guard watches as his fellow men are being distributed into their cells, wailing out and claiming that it was all the royals and their request to try and destroy the kingdom of Clarines. "A-are you going to…" the guard widens his eyes, words filled with terror, "k-kill me?"

Kiki shook her head, "no, that isn't in Prince Zen or Prince Izana's plans. Though I cannot speak for Queen Haruto…" The guard's bottom lip trembles. "However, you won't be seeing death anytime soon. Instead, I want you to see what you and your men caused that resulted in your loss."

And with that, Kiki thanks the Clarines guards before instructing the opposing guard to follow her back out of the dungeon and back into the main castle. She then turns to the man and asks for his name. "My name is Leon, Miss Kiki."

"Well, Leon," Kiki begins, "I'm going to take you to the medical wing. I want you to see what your kingdom has done to hurt my friends."

The guard, Leon, has now realized what her plans were. Instead of letting him at his peace in a cell, she will be forcing him to see the injured guards and fighters on her side of the battle. "Ah…" he lets out, walking beside her wearily. "I will say that for a woman, you pose yourself to be a very intimidating aide. At our kingdom, we don't allow women to wield a sword nor join the military."

"Oh really?" Kiki questions, "no wonder why your ambushing failed. Your kind of men are too cocky, and believe that only men can be strong and superior in this world."

"I don't believe you were taught how to be a swordsman by a woman, were you?" Leon audaciously questions. Kiki halts and turns to him, cracking a smile. She was amused by his ignorance.

"No, not by a woman," Kiki starts. She then unsheathes her sword, revealing the sharp entity before him. She points it at him, with the very end of the blade just centimeters from the inbetween of his eyes. "Nor by a man. I taught myself."

Leon looks attentively at her. Kiki was not worried, nor feared the fact that he, too, had his weapon. Her eyes held conviction, but she wasn't insulted by his words. There was no malice in her expression; she was almost apathetic towards his obviously sexist comment. "You don't seem as angry as you're making yourself out to be."

"That's because unlike you, I'm not a sensitive coward," Kiki replies. She puts her sword away before continuing to walk. He hesitates and looks around for an exit, but there are guards at every corner of the corridor. "I don't feel offended when men comment on the fact that I'm a woman doing a job I'm 'not supposed to be doing.'"

"You're supposed to be a housewife," Leon comments, "like my wife. She's at home now, with our 3 kids. She cooks and cleans our home, and makes sure I'm always welcome." Kiki shrugs.

"If she's happy with how she's chosen her life, I'm not bothered," Kiki replies. "I'm happy being a swordswoman and one of the Prince's aides. I get to protect and defend the country I love while simultaneously fighting against those views of women."

Leon chuckles, as if amused by her words. "So I'm assuming you haven't got a spouse, do you?"

Kiki smiles, "I do." She looks over at a window and looks down. She gestures for him to come look, pointing towards the gates of the front of the castle. "The man with the turquoise hair there."

Leon widens his eyes, "from earlier? Th-the one that grabbed your o-other friend away from me? With the yellow eyes?"

Kiki nods, "his name is Mitsuhide. And my friend that scared you was-"

"Obi," Leon finishes, "I-I know." Kiki was amused. Obi has traumatized the man. "So the other man, Sir Mitsuhide, is your spouse?" Kiki nods proudly. "He has a very interesting taste in women."

"Yes, he does," Kiki agrees. "Is that all?"

"I just find it rather peculiar that your Second Prince hired a woman, and someone who looks like a criminal."

"You aren't far off one bit," Kiki replies. She keeps walking, keeping Leon in shock as he closely tails behind her. "I'm the daughter of a nobleman who decided to be a swordsman. And Obi was a rogue criminal who almost killed one of our staff members." Leon widened his eyes, and wanted to say something, but had no words. Kiki then glances back and smiles, "are you done being so opinionated now?"

Mitsuhide was quick to tell the commanding general to get his men ready for war. He wasn't sure what else the Knights had up their sleeve, but he wasn't going to risk it. He was going to go all out and treat it as a war. No citizen or friend needs to get hurt if he wants to take this situation lightly.

Walking to the front towards the gates, he sees trails of blood spread and lathered all around the trail and the grass of the perimeter. Mitsuhide shook his head in disbelief. It's been such a long time since Clarines had been attacked as they were in a time of peace. But now he watched in horror as he unharmed men were splattered in their comrades' blood.

"Is everything alright? What happened?" Mitsuhide starts when going to the guards who are usually at their posts at the gate. The guards begin to explain how they had a few guards hidden in the forests of the outer perimeter of the palace. They began to climb over the walls and into the premises. The Mountain Lions took it upon themselves to help and fight them off with the rest of the guards.

"Get the guards to stand by all around the kingdom," Mitsuhide starts. "Get all the citizens safely in their homes in case of any foreseeable attack. Orphaned kids and animals alike must also be prioritized and housed until further notice."

"Yessir!" The guards take in the instructions and hurry to relay the information to the rest of the guards. Mitsuhide looks at the opposing guards, restrained and forced on the ground by the Clarines guards. He walks up to them, eyeing each of them to see if they had any more intentions or hidden ones.

"Which one of you is the leader here?" Mitsuhide asks, immediately watching several guards look over to one man. He was in the front of the pack, restrained, with blonde hair and forest green eyes. He had badges on his chest, all sorts of gold and silver to present his accomplishments forwardly. "And you are?"

"Commander Merek Cromwell," the man replies, looking up at Mitsuhide with some sort of confidence.

"Pleasure to meet you, Merek," Mitsuhide says dishonestly. "I'm Mitsuhide Rouen, first aide to the Second Prince of Clarines." Merek widened his eyes, realizing the significance of Mitsuhide's position. "I just have a question, nothing crazy: are there any more of you planning to attack us?"

"And why would I tell you?" Merek spews in disgust, snarling up at Mitsuhide.

"Because you have no idea how lucky you are," Mitsuhide begins, "the soldiers of Clarines do not try to harm or kill enemies if they don't need to, hence why you guys were only disarmed and arrested. I don't see any bruises or cuts on you or your men."

"So your men are programmed to be soft, eh?" Merek insults, smirking up at Mitsuhide. "The Kingdom of Clarines is a joke- I don't know how you guys are known to be so formidable and intimidating."

"You have some audacity for someone who's on their knees and chained," Mitsuhide says through a chuckle. Mitsuhide then unbuckles his belt, tossing aside his sheathed sword before bending down to meet eyes with Merek. "See, we don't want our enemies hurt before we decide their fate because we want to talk with them a bit. You wouldn't be able to talk if I let one of my men beat the daylight out of you."

"Your men aren't strong," Merek spews. "They're soft, like their leader." With those words, he decides to spit on Mitsuhide's cheek.

Mitsuhide keeps his smile on his lips, unwavered by Merek's disrespect. He stands up once again and wipes the spit from his face. He whips his hand towards the floor, removing as much spit from his fingers as he could. He then picks up his sheathed sword and with one swoop, slams it against Merek's left side of his face. He falls to his side, groaning from the sudden impact.

One bloody lip later, Merek spits out the bit of blood drawing from the inside of his mouth. Mitsuhide helps him sit back up again, watching as veins of irritance bulge from the man's temples. "Feel okay?" Mitsuhide asks.

"Damn you," Merek growls, "this is pathetic. You're beating me up knowing I can't fight back. You're a coward who can't fight fairly, Mitsuhide." Mitsuhide bends down, keeping his same friendly smile.

"I don't want to beat you up is the thing," Mitsuhide starts. "I asked you a question and not only do you not respond to it, but you insult my men and my country. Do you think that bloody lip wasn't warranted?"

"Why would I reveal my plans to you?" Merek asks. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Mitsuhide shrugs, "then let me ask you this: which one of your men hurt a man leaving the palace earlier? He's got maroon hair, dark green eyes, and is pretty tall."

"Oh him?" Merek smirks devilishly, "he was the man who stopped me from trying to hurt this little girl. He yelled something… like 'Kazuki, move' and started fighting with me." Mitsuhide widened his eyes. "That little girl started attacking me, so I had to defend myself. I didn't care if they were civilians; they started picking fights they couldn't win."

"So it was you." Without another word, Mitsuhide grabs him by the collar and forces him to his feet. "You are coming with me. Bring the rest of his men into the castle; cell them." Mitsuhide then begins walking his newfound prisoner into the castle, too. He leans his head towards him and speaks, "I'm sorry to hear that you have a wife and kids, Merek."

"And why's that?"

"I don't take too kindly to making children fatherless," Mitsuhide says truthfully. Merek widens his eyes in terror, his face going completely pale. "However, that's not up to me; that'll be up to Shirayuki."

"Who's Shirayuki?"

"You're about to find out."

Shirayuki was nothing short of tears when her father was brought back to her, unconscious.

"Wh-what happens?!" She instantly rushes into the infirmary room, where several beds were displayed and occupied by fellow injured soldiers. She was rosy cheeked and sobbing quietly, while unpacking her bag of medical tools and herbs. But she sets that on the bedside table as she places her hands carefully on her father's arm.

There he laid, breathing sporadically as the obvious gash on his stomach continued to bleed. "Shirayuki, how can I help?" Shirayuki turns to see Ryu walk up to her. He was covered in blood, but washed his hands before going to her. "I've assisted all the other patients, and Garak and everyone else has the rest covered."

Ryu's capabilities were always impressive, but more so than ever. She nods desperately before turning back to her father. "He-he's got big c-cut on his stomach…" Shirayuki stammers through tears. "A-and he's bl-bleeding a lot…"

Ryu, quick to take initiative, takes out his pair of scissors from his pocket, "let's take off his shirt first, yes? He needs air and that shirt is getting weighted." He then cuts from the collar to the end of the shirt, pushing the cut parts to the sides. Shirayuki sobs harder while Ryu eyes the wound. "He's going to need stitches."

"Y-yeah." Shirayuki looks in her bag, and finds a small, wooden box. Clearly not used as often, she opens it up to reveal a big pile of nylon sutures and a curved needle. Shakily, she takes it out of the box and attempts to prep it. But the uneasiness in her hands makes it difficult, having Ryu watch as Shirayuki unsuccessfully puts the suture into the hole of the needle.

"Allow me, Shirayuki," Ryu begins.

"N-No, I got it!" Shirayuki wails nervously. She was so desperate that the mixture of concern and nerves was making the task impossible.

Ryu goes against her words, and gently takes it from her. Her rosy cheeks were all wet with tears, and Ryu was extremely surprised. He has seen Shirayuki cry before, but not in a way that was so heartbreaking. The usually confident and fearless Shirayuki was now a stuttering, nervous wreck. It was already enough that her and Obi weren't on the best terms (even though it's only been a day), but now her ill father has come back to her with a gash on his body.

"Shirayuki, I know that this is serious, and you are worried about your father," Ryu begins. His usually bored expression changed to genuine concern and he pulled over a stool for Shirayuki to sit. She takes a seat while Ryu grabs another stool and sits beside her. "But I really need your help to make sure your dad is okay. We can't help him if you don't get yourself together."

Shirayuki looks at the young boy wistfully, understanding his desperation for her self-control. This wasn't the time to be crying, especially when her father was lying beside her, practically dying. She needed to get a grip immediately. Grabbing clothes and bandages, Shirayuki wipes her face with the back of her hands. "Y-yeah, you're completely right, Ryu. What do you need me to do?"

Ryu looks around and calls out to the medical maids that assist the court herbalist during serious things like this. "Get me several buckets of warm water please." She and two other maids rush out the door, running past Zen and Obi on the way. They greet them respectfully with quick bows before rushing through the corridor.

Zen and Obi walk in, with Zen in complete horror. His wounded men were now laying down and weak from the ambush, getting treated as quickly, and as much, as they could. Garak looks back at Zen and gives a weak smile, clearly just as unhappy as he was. Zen then looks over to Obi, who had his eyes glued on Shirayuki, Mukaze, and Ryu. "Go ahead," Zen whispers over to him, "I'll talk to Garak about everyone's status."

Without wasting another second, Obi rushes over to where Shirayuki was while Zen went to Garak. "Prince Zen," she greets him kindly. She pulls a stool over for him to join her.

Sitting, Zen asks, "how are my men? Are they going to be okay?"

"It was a brutal ambush, but the wounds aren't as bad as I thought they'd be," Garak explains. She looks over at the guard she was treating. He had a few cuts and gashes on his arms, but aside from that, he was perfectly well. He laid there, resting as Garak had given him something for the pain that causes drowsiness. "No casualties. The only men unprepared for it were the Mountain Lions. Especially…"

Her words dissolved as she turned over to Shirayuki. Zen looked over and frowned, seeing Shirayuki's defeated and pained state of trying to heal her wounded father.

"Where are the rest of the Mountain Lions?" Zen asks quietly.

"They're taking Kazuki for a walk," Garak said quietly. "They only had a few cuts since they were able to hold the enemies off on their own. But Mukaze only got hurt because he was protecting Kazuki. I don't think the kid took it well…"

As Garak explains everyone's current health status, Obi stands behind Shirayuki and pats her shoulder. "I'm here," he announces, having Shirayuki turn over to look up at her lover. She had never felt so relieved to see him, but she knew this was no time for a hug.

She grabs his forearm and gives it a light squeeze, "let me help my father first, and then we can talk." Obi nods, backing away from the bed as several assistant maids rush back into the room with the buckets of water Ryu requested. Ryu has them place the buckets by his feet as he instructs Shirayuki to wet the clothes and clean her father and the blood around his wound.

"Now take this and clean the actual wound," Ryu instructs, passing Shirayuki a bottle of alcohol. She pulls off the cork, and slowly adds some to a dry cloth. She dabs the wound all around carefully, having her father wince in pain while still unconscious. She whispers an apology to him as she finishes up cleaning him. During that time, Ryu prepares the sutures and emits a deep breath. Shirayuki notices that Ryu, too, had his own small set of nerves.

"Have you… done this before?"

"Yeah, it's just," Ryu begins, pausing before continuing, "this is your father. I don't want to mess up."

Shirayuki gets another dry cloth to stop her father's bleeding until Ryu is ready to begin. "Ryu, I know you're going to do your best to help my father. I know you'll be able to do this."

"Would you like me to do it instead, Ryu?" Garak hums from behind. She was the top court herbalist in the castle, and has done this procedure dozens of times. "I don't want you to feel pressured or anxious that you can't do it."

"You've seen me do it before; you taught me," Ryu insists. He lifts the needle, his hand no longer shaking. "I got it."

And, with that, Ryu stands up from his stool and gets up and personal with the wound. Shirayuki removes her hands and allows Ryu to lead the needle to his flesh. The red-haired herbalist anxiously watched as Ryu forced the needle into Mukaze's skin, pulling the sutures close together when essentially sewing his flesh back together. It was a bit of a process, but after a good hour and some patience, Ryu managed to completely close Mukaze's wound and quickly requested Shirayuki to bandage the man up.

The maids, Garak, Shirayuki, Zen, and Obi alike all looked at Ryu and began to praise him. Keeping in mind that Ryu isn't even a teenager yet, he successfully mended a majority of the guards by himself, and sewed up a wound that was a clear challenge. He had blood up and down his arms, but he wasn't bothered by it one bit. He grabbed another cloth, dipped it in the water, and helped Shirayuki clean the remaining blood that was ornate all around the wound during the stitching procedure.

"Not too tight," Ryu quietly guides as Obi helps lift Mukaze so Shirayuki can bandage her father all around his torso without waking him up. When they finish, Obi sets Mukaze down once more, and watches as he shifts uncomfortably. "Shirayuki, let's get cleaned up." She nods, getting up as the maids come over and begin to clean the bloody mess.

"Obi, can you look after my father for me while I go wash up and change?" Shirayuki asks, her voice cracked and nasally due to all the crying. Obi nods.

"You can count on me." Shirayuki began tearing up again, mouthing a 'thank you' before following Ryu out the room to get cleaned up.

Shirayuki and Ryu come back to see 4 new faces join the party. Mitsuhide joined them with his prisoner, and Kiki joined them with her prisoner. Shirayuki tilted her head in confusion, questioning who these individuals were.

"This is Leon," Kiki introduced, having everyone stare skeptically at the fact that he was still armed and not tied up. "He was the man who almost killed Zen just a bit ago."

"Excuse me, what?" Shirayuki looks over at Zen, completely pale. Zen coos, explaining what happened while Shirayuki started to fret. Even though they were no longer lovers, Shirayuki will always be worried about Zen and always pray for his well-being. He also explained that Obi stopped the knife from colliding with his face. Sometimes Obi was just too impressive for his own good.

"And this is Merek," Mitsuhide introduces his prisoner. He pushes his back, having the man fall to his knees before Shirayuki. "He's the man who did that to your father, Shirayuki."

She widened her eyes, studying the man before her. She noticed his bloody lip, and his smug stare. He had no empathy or sympathy for the girl. Clearly there was no regret hinted in his face, as though he enjoyed the pain he caused. "You're his daughter?" He croaks. "Sorry to inform you sweetie, but if you ever plan on having boys, your sons will be as weak as him. You father cursed your bloodline."

Shirayuki bends down to meet eyes with him, "my father would have killed you if he wasn't ill. You're lucky to be alive."

"I'd rather be dead at this point."

"I can make that happen, if you'd like," Shirayuki offers. The man was taken aback. This mysterious redhead, with full cheeks and a soft expression, threatened his life. She did not hesitate in her words, and she fully understood what her words meant. "That man is the only family I have left. If I didn't have these good people here, he would have died and I would have failed him."

"But you won't," Merek hisses, "I can see in your eyes. You aren't someone who likes seeing people hurt, even if they are your enemy."

"You aren't wrong," Shirayuki admits. "But you hurt my father. All life must be preserved, but your life doesn't matter to me at all."

Merek's eyes widen, looking around the room, attempting to express pleas to someone. He looks over to Garak, and begins to sob, "please don't let them kill me! I have a family- I can't leave them!"

Garak looks away, "I'm not the one you should be begging to." She then walks away to check on the rest of the patients. Merek looks back at Shirayuki, realizing that she wasn't kidding when she admitted to having pure apathy towards the man.

"I didn't mean to hurt him!" He cries. "We're just soldiers doing whatever the Knights ask us to do! This wasn't in my intentions!"

"I don't doubt it," Shirayuki says quietly, "but that doesn't erase the reality of things. My father is over there, unconscious and in pain. He has people who need him, and he can't be there for them yet until he's recovered."

"I'm sorry! Truly!" Merek begs.

"You weren't begging like this earlier," Mitsuhide scoffs, "I thought I was pretty intimidating." Mitsuhide crosses his arms over his chest in defeat. Kiki smirks and pats his bicep.

"Cute," she comments.

Shirayuki then sighs frustratedly, "however, I don't really want you killed. There's already been enough bloodshed today." Merek sighs in relief. "However, I can't guarantee that you'll be punished lightly for your treason." She then looks over at Leon, who looks hopeful at her. "Your fate definitely isn't in my hands. The Second Prince is right there if you feel like begging for your life. Now if you all will excuse me…"

The two prisoners slouch in defeat as Shirayuki walks back to her father's bed. She immediately grabs Ryu and lifts him up. Everyone watches as she spins him in a circle before putting him down and holding him for a long hug. "Shirayuki!" Ryu exclaims, surprised by the sudden motions.

"Thank you so much, Ryu, for helping my father," Shirayuki murmurs, "you're the most incredible young boy that I have the pleasure of being friends with."

Ryu allows the embrace and returns the hug, replying with, "anything for you, Shirayuki."

Letting go, Shirayuki walks over to Obi, who waited at the side of the bed. Obi frowned, sitting like an upset little puppy while simultaneously being too tall for the short stool he was sitting on. "He has a bit of a fever."

Suddenly alert, Shirayuki quickly palms her father's forehead, "he is a bit hot. Ryu?"

Ryu checks her father's forehead as well. The situation wasn't sitting well with Ryu at all. Considering he was already ill, taking this kind of blow while his immune system is still trying to fight his other condition was unsettling. Ryu couldn't be sure whether her father was really going to be okay. But that wasn't stopping him from trying. "Get cold water- we have to wake him up."

"Wake him up?" Shirayuki asks, "shouldn't he be resting?" Maids listen to Ryu's request and exit the room at once.

"Yes, but he needs to take medication urgently," Ryu explains. He goes to his bag and begins to fish out vials of herbs and certain powders. Shirayuki has never seen these crushed powders before, having her watch attentively as Ryu clears the bedside table to place all his materials. "His immune system is already trying to fight his condition, whatever it may be. But now it has to work on fixing that wound as well as this sudden flu."

Shirayuki and Obi watch wistfully as Ryu begins to mix vials and test certain herbs. Mitsuhide gets other guards to bring the prisoners down to the cells as well, deciding to deal with them later as there were more pressing matters. Garak, Zen, and his two aides join the rest of them around Mukaze's bed. Mitsuhide and Zen look down at Mukaze, somber and worried over his critical state. Kiki has her eyes shut, and begins to silently pray to herself.

Shirayuki brings her hands to her father's cheeks and lightly taps them, "papa, please wake up. We need to treat you, but we can't if you aren't able to take the treatment." She was trying her best not to lose herself again, and Obi could see it. He begins to bring his hand to her back, but quickly backs off. He wasn't too sure where they stood right now, but he wasn't willing to push it or worsen it now.

And so, in attempts to express his frustration over everything, Obi eyes the guards taking the prisoners away and glares. His ambar eyes dull, and he closes his hands into fists. "I'll kill him," he growls, as he tries to dash over to Merek. But Mitsuhide already stopped him by the time he got around the bed. Obi's strength was incredible, but Mitsuhide was not having it. "Mitsuhide, let me go!" Obi starts shouting. "I'll kill him, I swear!"

"Obi!" Mitsuhide yells back, attracting all eyes as he holds Obi back as well as he could. "It's okay- leave it alone!"

"'M gonna kill him, Mitsuhide!" Obi barks. Merek glances back nervously to lock stare with the scariest pair of eyes he has ever seen. "You're a dead man walking!" Obi points, still trying to fight against Mitsuhide's hold.

"There's more important matters, Obi!" Mitsuhide yells, grunting against Obi's forcefulness. Zen joins in, holding Obi from his backside as Obi attempts to weave out of their hold. Garak tried to calm him down with words as well while Kiki looked over Mitsuhide's shoulder and tried yelling at him as well.

"Obi, cut it out!" Zen exclaims.

"You aren't like this, Obi, please," Kiki calmly begs.

"I'm gonna kill him, god dammit!"

"Obi." A low, husky voice grunts. The scene is suddenly frozen, and everyone turns to look at Mukaze, who's eyes were just barely open. He emits a few weak coughs, but manages to sit up by himself (while waving Shirayuki off in her attempts to help him). He gestures for Obi to come to him, in which he obliges and gets let go from Zen and Mitsuhide's grasp. He stands beside him, his ambar eyes softening. "My boy… don't lose your self control like that."

Obi looks down, flushed and embarrassed. "I'm… sorry…" Mukaze puts his arm around Obi and chuckles, while Obi looks up, eyes lighting up slightly. "How're you feeling? Are you okay?"

Mukaze packs a punch with his back pat as he lets out a hearty laugh. That was, until he proceeded to cough. "I feel great," Mukaze insists. He then looks down to his bandaged wound and chuckles, "but I probably look awful, eh?"

Obi smirks and shakes his head, "you look absolutely dashing, I promise."

Mukaze nods gently, seemingly satisfied with that answer, "I'm glad to know." He then turns over to his daughter, who was already crying. "Shirayuki, why are you crying?"

She instantly wraps her arms around his neck and holds him. Not too tight, but just enough. "I was so worried about you!" She weeps, "I didn't know what I'd do if I lost you…"

Mukaze pats her back and soothes her, "I didn't have plans on leaving you anytime soon. After all, I still have your wedding to attend, remember?"

Shirayuki pulls away and giggles, wiping away her tears shyly, "y-yeah, you're right…" As she sniffles and reddens, Ryu interrupts the three and presents Mukaze a large spoon full of who-knows-what. Obi moves out of the way as Ryu files in and offers it to Mukaze.

"Eat this," Ryu instructs.

"What is it?"

"Just eat it." Mukaze listens and takes the spoon from the boy. He forces the small pile of the mysterious edible, immediately grimacing at the taste. Ryu comes back in with a glass of water and Mukaze drinks it and requests the rest of the pitcher. Ryu gives him the pitcher, and Mukaze begins to down it completely. "That," Mukaze starts, regaining his breath while putting the pitcher down, "was disgraceful."

"What did you give him, Ryu?" Garak questions.

Ryu looks down at his hands, seeing his hands slightly covered with herbs and powders, "after Shirayuki found out about the poisoned wine, I decided to pick up a little bit about chemistry. It's a similar study to herbalism, but it isn't as natural. They tend to have much more quicker results." He shows everyone his hands, "these chemicals were given to me a little while back when Garak took me to meet a few chemists."

"Oh yes, when you first began to study under my wing," Garak recalls, "that chemist was like a genius, touring around the world with their discoveries of 'automatic' medicine. 'Course I didn't really listen much to that, but Ryu was definitely lending an ear."

Ryu nodded, "I focused more on poisons and herbs rather than chemistry though. It never piqued my interest until recently." He then turns to pull out a small scroll. Not too small, but enough to write several recipes and combinations. "That chemist wrote down and explained each powder, and he wrote the combinations of those powders and what they do." He slaps his hands together to remove as much powder as he could. "I made a recipe that will relieve the pain, and ensure that no infections occur. However, the only catch is he will have to take it daily for a little while."

Mukaze sighs, chuckling tiredly, "now I have to drink a disgusting tea, and consume a disgusting pile of powder." Everyone was glad he seemed to be well, having been slashed in the stomach just a couple hours ago.

Soon after, Mukaze eats an easy meal of soup and bread and falls asleep. Zen decides to leave Kiki and Mitsuhide to check on the wounded men because he wanted to check on his family and see what was decided for the Knight family. Garak and Ryu remain, though Garak ends up sharing a few drinks with the well-recovered guards. Ryu watches over Mukaze, checking his temperature every half hour while creating daily concoctions of chemicals for Mukaze's health.

Obi had decided to sit outside, waiting in case new information arises while protecting the men in recovery. Shirayuki softly asks Ryu to continue watching over her father while she goes out to have a talk with Obi.

Night fell quickly, and Shirayuki still looked beautiful while in the dim lighting of the lanterns. Obi looks up and quickly rises when she appears before him. She watches as he stands up straight and folds his arms behind his back. "Obi, you don't have to act so formal with me. You know that."

"Sorry, Mistress," Obi says quietly. Shirayuki widens her eyes at his response while also noticing that he would not look at her straight in the eyes. Even then, his ambar eyes looked exhausted and empty, like he completely went through a reset. "It's been a long day."

"Why are you calling me Mistress again?" Shirayuki complains. Her hands reach for Obi's face, and that's when it finally hits her. He backs away, fearing her touch as though it were fire. "Obi, what are you-?"

"I'm sorry," Obi begins quietly. He looks away, unable to bear looking her in the eye. "I'm trying to give you the space that you asked for," Obi explains, "but I don't really know how to handle it. I've grown very attached to you, Miss."

"But things didn't end between us, Obi," Shirayuki begins quietly. "I'm not even mad, or upset with you anymore. I just needed to gather my thoughts properly, and I needed space in order to do that."

Obi nods, "I understand. I just didn't know how to do that due to the fact that I'm so in love with you." Shirayuki smiles, but Obi doesn't even change his expression. "So I just handled it the way I could."

"So you treat it like we were still in a professional relationship?" Shirayuki asks. Obi nods nervously, but Shirayuki was not having it. "You didn't even stay as my personal guard- you traded positions with Mitsuhide!"

"I didn't know how much space you wanted," Obi explained. His cheeks get rosy, and he's suddenly very embarrassed before his lover. "People have requested space from me before, but you're not just anyone. I love you, Mistress, but it's impossible to stay away from you upon request."

"Obi…"

"I didn't know how else to deal with it besides being the me I was before you," Obi explains quietly. "The me that managed to suppress the urges to love you the way I think I know I can." Shirayuki just looked at him. His arms were loosening, and it was slowly undoing themselves behind his back. "Because the 'me' now can't handle being away from you. I can't handle staying away when I want nothing more than to be as close to you as I can. I can't handle loving you this much."

"Obi, please just let me…" Shirayuki whispers. Obi's eyes widen, ambar orbs shiny and curious as her eyes slowly guided themselves to his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't consider that you've never had a lover before me…" Obi stays still, watching intently as her smooth hands hold onto his face. That's when she really saw it.

Obi closes his eyes, and his shoulders drop. All tension and stress had been relieved from him like a weight he never expected to get. His tummy felt warm, and he began to slouch from the alleviation that was Shirayuki's touch. She could see how he melted in her hands, how comfortable and safe he felt. She finally realized that she was wrong for reacting a bit too extremely. Obi was just listening to Mukaze, and he was just trying to spare her feelings.

"Obi," Shirayuki hums quietly. He opens his eyes, his amber orbs droopy. He was clearly getting very comfortable from her hands on his face. She slowly reaches up to weave her fingers between his raven-black hair. He quickly stills for a moment, pausing the pleasure of taking solace in Shirayuki's love.

"Please don't do this because you feel bad," Obi starts, attempting to back off, "if you still need your space, I don't mind-"

"Stop." Shirayuki interrupts Obi and immediately pulls him down to her face. Their noses touch, his breath very hot against her lips. Her emerald eyes study his, her seduction and adoration making him short of breath. "I don't want space anymore."

She firmly presses her lips on his, the sparks going everywhere. Obi couldn't contain himself. He wraps his arms around her waist and picks her up, holding her from her bottom. His hands felt so secure, like she was floating on a cloud. And Obi could not see himself surviving the rest of his life without this woman's love.

But Shirayuki suddenly pulls away, furrowing her brows. She jabs her finger slightly into Obi's chest and with a demanding tone says, "don't ever call me 'Mistress' again, do you understand?"

"Yes, m'lady," Obi complies, smiling extra widely before letting her down and swallowing her whole in his arms.