"Zen!" Shirayuki's voice was starting to give with how many times she'd yelled out her missing loves name, feet aching as the pair venture deeper and deeper.

Obi stopped every few minutes to analyze the ground, someone had tried covering their tracks, but this was mere child's play to follow "There's two sets of prints, these ones are smaller, where as these are larger and deeper."

"Do you think they belong to Zen or whoever took him?"

Obi shakes his head, he knew the Prince's footsteps and these didn't match up, however "Not Masters, these belong to Mitsuhide."

Shirayuki tilts her head "How can you tell?"

"The size of the shoe and you can still see the imprints from the bottom. Mitsuhide's shoes are the only pair I know of with this particular pattern."

"But why are they so deep?" Asks Shirayuki "Mitsuhide can't be that heavy to leave an indent in the ground"

"True, normally he wouldn't be, but if he had per-say a Prince strode over his shoulder, that just might do it."

"You mean ... Mitsuhide carried Zen through here?" Shirayuki looks upon the tangle of broken branches "Hey wait, I think I see a path, Obi!"

Obi nods and follows the red head, "Looks like Master left a trail for us"

Shirayuki smiles as the pair follow the trek "Zen knew we'd come looking for him"

"Well, it looks like we've arrived!" Exclaimed Obi as the branches and crinkled leaves end "Master!"

Shirayuki cups her mouth, taking a few steps forward as she spoke "Zen! Z-"

Obi turns to see a fallen Shirayuki on the ground "Are you alright?"

Shirayuki rubs her ailing backside "Yeah, I tripped over something" feeling underneath her, the girl found a small hidden latch "I wonder what this goes to?"

"It's looks like a handle" Speaks Obi, helping Shirayuki to her feet "There's a door here"

Shirayuki wastes no time, eagerly opening the secret entrance "Zen! Zen, are you down here?"

"Master!" Yells Obi, the man running down the steps, picking up an object off the ground.

"What is that?" Questions Shirayuki as she too makes her way inside "Did you find Zen?"

Obi shakes his head, turning to face the young girl, grasping the Prince's prized sword "He's not here, Master was right here!"

Shirayuki reaches out to touch the weapon, carefully holding it next to her heart, this being the only sign of Zen's presence "He couldn't have gotten far, but if Zen escaped ... Why didn't he return to Wistal Castle?"

Obi smells the air, quickly he recognizes the putrid smell of knock out gas, grabbing Shirayuki's hand, he drags them both back outside.

"Master didn't escape, I smell gas that's used to knock people unconscious down there."

Shirayuki's eyes widen, tears begin filling emerald eyes once more, they'd been so close "He ... They couldn't have gotten far! We can still save Zen, Obi, we have to save him!"

Obi pushes away his anger and focuses on finding a trail, if he could still smell the toxin, then it wasn't used that long ago "Look for any signs of disturbance or distress in the dirt, they weren't here too long ago."

Shirayuki nods and heads back and fourth through the dense forest, her lanterns light being the only thing helping her see.

Whoever ever had taken his Master was good, but not careful enough to hide from Obi, this person was much like himself in many ways.

They'd watched Master, studied his movements, planned where to hide him or worse went through all the trouble of building the small prison themselves.

Obi couldn't help but feel this was the work of one of his own, but if they wanted revenge on him why go after the Master? No, this was about Master, of that Obi was positive.

"Mistress, did Master ever confide in you about any of his enemies?"

Shirayuki deeply thinks but comes up empty handed "No, Zen's never spoken to me about any of them."

Obi folds his arms "This is too carefully planned and organized to be a simple kidnapping for ransom."

Shirayuki nods her head sadly, watching as the sun just begins to rise "It's already morning"

Obi was getting frustrated, he could tell Shirayuki was disappointed and hurting, there had to be some kind of clue as to where the Master was.

"Obi, if you had just kidnapped someone, how would you get away with them?" Questions Shirayuki "You used to do those things, right?"

Tentatively, Obi nods "I did anything depending on the price, but usually I was paid to kill, not really take anybody."

Shirayuki clutches her fists in mid air, body swiveling to face the archer "There must be something you know that can help us, put yourself in the kidnappers shoes, what would you do? Where would you go?"

At this Obi really had to think, if he'd been hired to kidnap a Prince alive, what would be the best method of escape?

"If I'd just succeeded in taking a well known royal, I'd have no choice but to go into hiding, it'd be far too dangerous going into town, I'd have already set up a method of transportation."

That didn't leave many options, but all this was just hypothetical and upon catching Shirayuki's pointed gaze, Obi had to continue.

"Myself personally, wouldn't take a job where the package is wanted alive, but if I ever did and I had to escape fast and without being noticed I'd use a sailing boat."

"If that's the case then the kidnapper wouldn't have risked going out last night, they'd have to wait till sunrise."

Obi was about to respond when a rustling in the bushes captured his attention, quickly the man moves forward to shield Shirayuki, arrow drawn.

The steps continued as one Mitsuhide comes barreling through "I've been searching for you two everywhere!"

"Well, you found us" States Obi, not moving the arrow, much to the chargin of Shirayuki. "How are you feeling, Mitsuhide?"

"I ... I feel terrible! How could I have done that to Zen? Did you find him yet? I don't remember where I left him or what exactly I did, but judging by Kiki, it was really bad!" cries Mitsuhide "Ryuu said the mixture for your exam had been tampered with, I was doing somebody else's biding"

"I knew it!" Declares Shirayuki in anger "They messed with the antidote too."

"What?" Squeals Mitsuhide "How ... How could they have done that? Am I going to hurt somebody else?"

"Relax, Little miss here thinks it was just dosed with a special flower to block memories and cause immediate deep sleep." Answers Obi "We found the cellar you took Master, but he's gone."

Mitsuhide's eyes widen in panic "Zen is missing? Was he taken? Does whoever did this to me have Zen?"

Shirayuki wearily nods while clutching the lone sword "Obi smelled traces of some kind of knock out drug."

Mitsuhide's left hand covers his mouth in utter defeat "This is all my fault, I delivered Zen right to him!"

"Mitsuhide, now isn't the time for blame, once Master is back then we can all blame you together. Right now I need to know if Master has any enemies he told you about?"

Mitsuhide takes a deep, calming breath, one name did suddenly pop into his head, but it was impossible "No, no, the only one I was witness to his dead."

At this Obi chuckles "You know how many people think I'm dead? Unless you know for sure, tell us."

"I really don't think it's him, but, when I was first hired on as Zen's aid he had a secret friend. A boy in the archers named Atri, he convinced Zen to sneak out to see him after dark, I had my suspicions about the boy and went to Izana."

Obi was listening intently, Shirayuki couldn't help but feel for Zen as Mitsuhide concluded the tale.

"We discovered inconsistencies in Atri's information, by the time we'd found out he was really a part of the Lido group, Zen had already snuck out. We found him on the ground, surrounded by this group, whether they planned to kill or capture we never learned, Atri attacked Zen and ... I killed Atri."

Shirayuki gasped "That's horrible!"

Mitsuhide nods "It was that night that Zen realized how his status can affect other people, he vowed to be a better Prince from that day on."

"You said his information didn't match up?" Questions Obi

"Far as we could tell, there wasn't much on him to be honest, Atri somehow just showed up one day, no records of him even getting the position."

Obi shakes his head "It's no coincidence Atri comes out of the blue and just happens to get close enough to Master without anyone knowing."

Shirayuki had to agree, she'd seen and experienced first hand the guards at Wistal Castle.

"I'm guessing that's why Izana hired me as Zen's aid" Clarified Mitsuhide "I caught Zen and Atri meeting numerous times so it would make sense his elder brother knew of the situation."

"You said Atri was an archer?" Asks Obi "Did he happen to make his own arrows?"

"Yeah, that's all I'd ever see the kid doing was sitting in a tree hacking away at a stoned tip."

Shirayuki turns to face Obi, who's now looking deep into the surrounding trees "You don't think-"

"Atri is still alive" States Obi "I found signs of a camp not too far from here, recently all packed up and prints leading here."

Mitsuhide frowns, hands on his sides "That doesn't really scream killer kid back from the dead"

Obi reaches into his pocket, pulling out a black stone arrow tip "Found this buried next to the tree that was being used as a camp, look like his handy work?"

The stone is tossed to Mitsuhide, the aid examing the rough edges, with a little more rounding it would be identical to the one Zen had in his office drawer. "This ... This can't be possible, we all saw him die!"

"How could Atri have faked his own death?" Asks Shirayuki in confusion

"He didn't fake it ... " whispers Obi, head groveling, yellow gaze pointed down, weapon now forgotten and lowered "In my old line of work, we'd take care of our own, one day on a job I found a kid barely breathing hiding away in the bushes, I brought him to where I was staying and helped him heal."

Mitsuhide angrily rushes the messenger, hands fisting tight into his khaki shirt "You saved the man who most likely kidnapped Zen?"

Obi shrugs out of the hold, almost ripping his shirt in the process "He was just a kid, I told him to play dead and get out of the life, he never told me how he got hurt and I didn't ask."

Mitsuhide fought to keep his anger in check "That kid has now single handedly taken the second Prince of Clarines captive, who knows what Atri's got planned! He blamed and hated Zen for being royalty."

Obi's eyes squinted "I'm not the one who locked Master up, you basically put a bow on his head and left him as a present."

"I was under Atri's control! There was nothing I could have done, what excuse do you have?" Yells a heated Mitsuhide "You aided the kid when you knew he'd done something awful, your line of work isn't easy and you must have heard of the failed attack on Wistal Palace by the Lido group!"

"So what if I did?" Returns Obi, hands itching to shoot to kill "You may think you have the underworld all figured out, but you haven't even scratched the surface, we take care of our own."

Mitsuhide scoffs "Is that why you were hiding the arrow?" Stone now thrown, embedding deep into the earth "You knew this was one of Atri's, just like I did, which means you also have a pretty good idea of where to find Zen."

Obi wants to deny it, he wants to beat the aid before him to a bloody pulp, but it was when he caught sight of Shirayuki's eyes that the man regrets his earlier choice "Little miss, I-"

The red head moves forward to slap, only being held back by Mitsuhide "How could you, Obi? You've known who had taken Zen and where this whole time? Why would you protect Atri instead of your friend?"

"My friend? He's my Master, he trusts me to look after you mistress and nothing more." States Obi uncertainly

"How can you say that? Of course Zen is your friend, him trusting you to look after me is all the proof you need." Retaliates Shirayuki

"You came to the palace in order to kill Shirayuki, yet Zen allowed you to stay, trusted you to guard and protect the girl he loves and you're going to stand here and accuse him of not being your friend?" Defends Mitsuhide "You left the underworld, you have no obligation to protect them any more."

"It's not obligation, it's honor and trust!" Dictates Obi "Like it or not they're still my people and responsibility."

"Zen was wrong to trust you! I was wrong!" Screams Shirayuki, the girl falling to her knees, body racked by sobs "We thought we were your friends, Obi ... All this time you've been lying to us and now Zen's gone!"

"I'm sorry I'm not the man you all wanted me to be, mistress."

Mitsuhide consoles a breaking down Shirayuki as Obi makes his vast exit from the scene, worry and fear towards his missing friend filling him to his core.