Trust was not any easy thing to come by for a prince. He'd learned his lesson years ago when Atri, his best friend, had betrayed his trust in one of the worst ways possible. A part of Zen had learned to isolate itself then, and the images of Atri's death still play back in his head, if he's not careful enough to hide them.
Trust was not something that could be bought, but had to be earned. Zen knew that much, and today was supposed to be the kind of day that seen him far, far away from the castle and given a break to rest for a few hours or more. It was a kind of break that was hard to come by, and then he needed to run to obtain, because if he was so much as caught, a break like this would be impossible.
The path to the side was usually missed by most people, and Zen could so easily scale the fence that it wasn't too much of a hassle. Yet, when he finally made that leap, he stumbled. There was a woman with a hood sitting inside the gate, next to the house. Zen had never seen her before, and that told him what he needed to know as far as trusting her went. Besides, a hood wasn't particularly common dress right now anyway; she was obviously trying to hide who she was.
"Ahh! Are you okay, Zen?! Didja sprain your ankle?! Hit your head?!" Mitsuhide's frantic voice reached Zen's ears as his faithful guards followed him over the gate in a hurry. "What's one plus one?!"
"Two. Who're you though?" Zen's eyes flickered towards the young woman with the hood over her head, still masking her identity, probably more so, since the intrusion.
"It's me, Mitsuhide!" His loyal assistant answered instead of the woman that Zen was actually addressing with his question.
"Ah! Good to finally learn his name." Kiki droned in a sarcastic tone, seemingly content to tease her partner anyway.
"You too, Kiki? Harsh." Mitsuhide turned towards his partner and soulmate.
"I'm not talking about you guys." Zen clarified as he stood up and turned to properly face the woman that had so startled him that he'd fallen and hurt his arm. "Who are you?"
Her eyes went wide with shock, and yet they hadn't really locked on Zen's.
"And what's brought you so deep into the woods?" Zen questioned her, well aware that she could have entered the woods to pose as a threat to him.
"I ran away from home," She answered, "And I've been staying off the main roads."
Zen reached out with his sheathed sword and pushed her hood back to finally get a good look at this woman that supposedly ran away from home. Her eyes widened at the action, and finally, they met each other's gaze.
It was like nothing else Zen had ever experienced, as suddenly time seemed to slow down. His blue eyes were drawn completely into her gaze, and the first color that came into view was a pretty green color. Her eyes were so bright, even as filled with shock as they were, and within a blink or two, he seen all of her brought to life with so much color.
Was color always this way? A little overwhelming with a touch of softness as his eyes skipped from hers and back up to glimpse her hair. He had nothing to compare her bright, apple red hair with, having only seen the world in a mix of black and white, with gray thrown in to complete the mix of shades out there until now.
Her face was light as a peach, and her eyes as vibrant green though a few shades lighter than the trees when he couldn't help but peek up at them a few moments later.
"Ah!" Was the only response she gave, but Zen could see the awed gaze that drew her eyes away from his and really looked at him, at his silvery white hair, his royal clothes, the sword that he carried, the trees above his head, the gate behind him. Her eyes flickered just as his did.
It was almost unsettling how hyper aware he felt in just a moment, and how hyper aware she seemed as she really glanced at him. It briefly reminded him of when he'd first noticed that Kiki and Mitsuhide had met, and he'd spotted Mitsuhide's stunned expression and wide, wide eyes, the way Kiki had cooled her expression down with apparent ease. Yet, both of their eyes had still been at least slightly wide even when Prince Zen had made it to them.
He'd known without asking them, what must have happened, and even now, the shock of it all which had eased itself into a new normal from that long ago.
"That's some interesting hair you got there." Zen ignored the surprised gazes of his guards as he pointed out what now seemed obvious. If he hadn't met her eyes then, he knew he wouldn't have known. Yet, he'd never heard of hair the color of hers, and he'd known without looking that even his guards had been surprised by her appearance when he'd gently pushed the hood back and finally caught a glimpse of her.
"Zen?" Mitsuhide and Kiki's surprise registered in their voices, and yet, Zen still hadn't turned to look at them. He didn't quite know what colors would fill his mind up when he finally looked at his assistants, but just because this strange woman was Zen's soulmate didn't mean that he could take his eyes away from her or trust her, even enough to turn his back on her for a second.
A soulmate could still really be a threat, and Zen wasn't willing to take his chances like he had with trusting Atri all those years ago. It had been bad then, when his friend had been just a friend, and he wasn't quite willing to open up with his soulmate unless she proved trustworthy.
"Really? I hear that a lot." Her expression went wary as well, and even Zen could tell as a stranger to her, that she was uncomfortable with that being brought up right now and didn't trust him all that more than he trusted her.
"N-Nevermind me. It looks like you hurt your hand." The woman changed the topic as her gaze finally found the mark on his hand.
"What of it?" Did she think that being soulmates overlooked the fact that she was a stranger and allowed him to trust her? He wasn't that foolish, despite the slight twinge in his heart that he dutifully ignored.
"I'm an herbalist by trade," She explained, "I've got poultices and the like on me."
Her voice went softer, a little more tentative as she turned to asking him a question, "May I?"
Even though her hands fluttered down to her bag to open it up and probably pull something out, Zen cut her off with his voice. "You've got medicine?"
"Hmph! Don't bother." Zen continued, pointing his still sheathed sword at her, "For all that we know that could be poison! I'm no ignorant peasant. And I'm not about to trust a stranger just like that. So, thanks but no thanks." It didn't matter that she was his soulmate, and he wasn't about to admit it. Plenty of royalty ended up marrying people that weren't their soulmates, and he could very likely do the same down the line; it didn't make her any more trustworthy, after all. Assassins could be the soulmates of targets that they had to kill; it didn't stop them from doing their jobs despite the emotion or the color or the world going back to black and white with the odd amount of gray within it.
"Get it? Leave us alone." Not knowing her would really be for the best anyway, and she didn't dress nor act like a noble, so the likelihood of finding a way to marry his soulmate was very improbable if he was willing to trust her anyway. They'd both see in color and live very separate lives that way, only really knowing one day when color disappears that the other had died. Simple and easy enough to live with.
Her hand reached out and grabbed onto his sword and though it wasn't unsheathed, the threat felt preeminent.
"You wanna fight...?" Zen felt his aides tense up behind him even without needing to look; his soulmate choosing to be so violent would not be the most surprising reality of his life, and either way, looking away would be a mistake anyway.
Instead she hits herself in the arm with the sheath, leaving a nasty mark in its wake and promptly lets go of his sword. Her hands move back to her bag and pull out a medicine of some sort that she easily smears over her wound with the efficient ease of a woman who has treated wounds like this before, quickly bandaging up in another fluid motion.
Her bright green eyes meet his blue ones in a hard gaze, "Sorry. But toting poisons around just isn't my thing."
She definitely was a quick thinker and wasn't one to back down, even as Zen met her gaze with his wide, blue eyes and dropped his sword haphazardly on the ground. He felt almost breathless as he looked at her, seeing a strong willed woman who had rightfully stood up to him and proved herself trustworthy. The image of living vastly different lives despite being soulmates seemed to float far out of his mind.
"She got you good, Zen." Mitsuhide starting laughing behind him, already relaxed even despite the surprise of a few minutes ago.
Zen couldn't but join in the laughter for just a bit as he slowly looked back towards her, the obviously fiery soulmate of his, "Ugh... I'm sorry. Go on then, please." Zen offered his arm, and this time, he knew he could trust his soulmate.
He let go of the tight reins on his heart and left it open to fall, even though he isn't sure how this will all go in the end. He can trust her at least, and maybe if she could come to trust him too; their lives could change in a completely different way.
Her hands were gentle as she treated his wound, and her eyes were focused solely on that when she did so. Zen knew that somehow he'd given her control of his heart, and while it was a little scary to realize that he'd just met his soulmate and their future was uncertain, he figured a little risk here might not be so bad after all.
Even when later on, he'll realize that her hair is apple red due to a gift of poisoned apples, and even when their future seems to become less certain and held together.
Still so, Mitsuhide and Kiki deserved to know of this rather startling new development, and when the future was a little more clear, he'd have to tell his older brother and their mother.
Kiki and Mitsuhide were quiet as they stood outside; Shirayuki, the woman that they'd stumbled upon here's name as they had come to find out, was inside.
"So," Zen wasn't sure exactly how to begin his explanation, something a lot like nerves settled solidly and weightily in his stomach, "I may have just met my soulmate."
It sounded a lot less certain than he felt. Still the silence seemed barely penetrated.
"Huh?" Mitsuhide blinked as if just now realizing that something was amiss, as if Zen being able to recognize the rarity of Shirayuki's hair hadn't given away at least that much.
"May have?" Kiki questioned, relaxed and otherwise silent, the perfect listening ear.
"Oh." Zen swallowed past the residual nerves in his throat as he finally found the words to correct himself, "I have found her."
It took a second to work up the ability to make everything entirely clear, "It's Shirayuki."
"Oh." Kiki murmured, though it sounded more like an encouragement to continue speaking than surprise.
"I don't know what will come of it yet." Zen looked back towards the little house, clearly gated in as if he could see through the walls and see the woman so calmly asleep as she was when they'd slipped out the door to talk at Zen's urging.
"You don't know what will come of it yet?" Mitsuhide questioned, "But, she's your soulmate."
"I'm pretty positive that she isn't nobility." Zen straightened up, "And, I have no idea whether we will end up together anyway or if we do, I can manage to get permission to marry her. It's not like it would be, if I'd discovered that my soulmate was a princess."
"That makes sense." Kiki shrugged.
"But, if you do fall in love, go for it." Mitsuhide seemed to finish; it made sense that Zen should consider doing all that he could for her sake, if the two soulmates did in fact fall in love, as if seeing color with just a look into the other's eyes hadn't been enough of a clue.
But, Zen being the Second Prince of Clarines and her not even being a princess certainly complicated things to say the least. Mitsuhide and Kiki would support him either way, regardless of where this relationship went. He was their boss, their prince, but most importantly, he was their friend.
So, hopefully, things worked out well in whichever direction they went in. Despite the 'if' of falling in love that Zen had voiced, Kiki didn't miss the way his eyes softened when mentioning Shirayuki or the way that even now his gaze seemed to be drawn to the house, as if still in shock at discovering she was his soulmate and still eager to protect her.
It might just be a matter of time until the prince fell in love with the herbalist after all.