1. Thank you, Aafje98, for your review.
2. We are approcheing Hakuyuu's death slowly, but steadily.
3. What do you think about the story so far? What do you think about my way of portraying Hakuyuu and Hakuren?
4. Please write a review after reading.

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It felt like an eternity, in which he hadn't ride on a horse, had passed. When the day, which freed him from his days in the palace, came, he had a hard time to stay collected. Since he had spoken to his mother about Hakurin, she was angry and barely interacted with him. Of course, he had tried to apologize to her, but in the end he even made it worse. And here some people were wondering, why he still wasn't married and that would probably never change, as long as he was not forced into a political marriage.
The small breaks with his mother had given him some distance to the fact that he still was considered sick and therefore weak. It had been a nice change to the paperwork and the political talk. He hadn't realized how much time had passed since he had joined the army. Ever since then he had barely been at home or, in the rare cases he was, he was always busy with meetings. No time for a nice tea break, no time for a longer casual conversation, no thinking about trivial matters. It had been tiring, but he hadn't noticed it, because he had been too busy to do so. The last months had been so quiet and peaceful for him, because the battlefield was somewhere else that he had begun to think about his future. Until today he had only thought about unifying the world under one ruler and, when the time had come, to take over the throne. There were nothing else for his future. He never had thought about marriage – yes, one day it would have happened and he would have children, since this was expected of him – or any activities outside of his role as crown prince.
He liked to go on a ride in the few times he was free. And he loved reading! From history books to novels to poetry. Novels were rare cases, because he preferred realistic stories and most available novels inside the palace were the ones for his little sister. Neither his mother nor his father were big readers – his father was only interested in books related to his function as emperor. So, novels were not his case.
Hakuren on the other hand loved stories about monsters, heroes and the like. Sometimes Hakuyuu had the feeling that Hakuren read books to his little sisters just as an excuse to read such a story – despite no one caring about or knowing what the princes read in their spare time. It was a little bit silly, but Hakuren indeed was a little bit silly.

When his mother avoided him, Hakuyuu got even more time to think about his future and he realized how empty and one sided his life had been until today. As a child the world had been more colorful. He had accepted the lack of variety, because why not? Being an adult brought responsibilities with it. Hakuyuu was not just an adult, he was the crown prince and the future emperor, so slacking off was not an acceptable or even available option. Yet, in the last few day he had started to understand his little brother Hakuren better. How often had he criticized the younger one for having fun? An adult shouldn't sneak out of the palace, flirt around, play around or behave like a child. Now he understood that Hakuren was just filling his life with colors. They hadn't had much time for themselves – they had to grow up fast than other children, hence they had less time to be free. Hakuren used every second he got of the little freedom he had at hand! Hakuyuu did not. Maybe that was the reason, why Hakuren was such an optimistic, happy and nice person? Maybe that was the reason, why Hakuyuu was so withdrawn, stern, a bit pessimistic and sometimes felt sad and had the feeling that the world lacked colors? Was his sadness always been there or was it just because if the last weeks that felt like an eternity? He wasn't sure and it did not matter now anyway. What mattered now was the fact that he finally was outside again and supporting his men in their war for peace! It felt great to be greeted by the soldiers, see them more or less fine and have a little talk with them. War was no fun, therefore it was important to make sure that normality wasn't lost. There was nothing wrong with being happy, with having friends and enjoying their company. There was nothing wrong with not constantly looking sad or stern, just because there was a war out there – something Hakuyuu also had to remind himself of at times. And there was nothing wrong with a horse race against his brother, who was so confident in winning that seeing Hakuren's face after losing was something to look forward to.

In the late afternoon they decided to set up camp. The soldiers knew what they had to do. Hakuyuu would share a tent with Hakuren, which wasn't quite so pleasant, since the later one snored! Hiding with a sleeping Hakuren was impossible! Fortunately, until now they hadn't had to hide with a sleeping Hakuren. But his snoring could still lead enemies to their camp – which never happened before and the chances that something like this would ever happen were extremely small. Also, Hakuren was not the only one snoring, just the one Hakuyuu had to deal with. The best strategy was to fall asleep before Hakuren, which was pretty easy, since the other one went to bed relatively late, while Hakuyuu preferred it to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. He was also someone who woke up early, he did not mind this at all, because that way he could take his sweet time with getting out of bed and enjoy the silence until Hakuren, who liked to sleep in, woke up. The younger prince was not talkative in the morning, but somewhat clingy, which indeed was a bit annoying. Hakuyuu was not a person, who enjoyed too much intimacy – at least not in public. This was probably all because he was unsure how to handle people that were close to him, since did not want to hurt their feelings. Hakurin was the only one still allowed to show public affection, simply because she was still so young. However, she already knew that it was better to only hold hands with her family members at political occasions.

While everyone was busy with preparing the camp, Hakuyuu took a little walk around. No one let him help with the work anyway. He had to be easy on himself! This time he did not mind it. Maybe because the thought of being surrendered by a bunch of over worried soldiers, while trying to get work properly done, was bothersome. Taking a nice walk, on the other hand, sounded great.
It made him feel free! Hakuyuu really had no problems with working or following rules, he just did not like it, when it was forced upon him due to prejudice, wrong assumptions or to control and manipulate him.

The camp was on a field without any hiding option. Everyone would be able to see and attack them, but there was no other place for them to go. If he remembered the map correctly, the next village would still be a few days away and it was pretty small, so they had to set up camp anyway. Most of them would prefer a real bed and a solid roof over their heads. Camping was definitely something he hadn't missed at all! It was rather uncomfortable! However, sitting together at the camp fire and listen to the stories of the others was indeed nice. He never had a story to share, but the others had a lot. Hopefully the food would be great this time. Depending on who was in charge of cooking, the meals ranged from eatable to deadly poisonous. Obviously no one had died due to such food until now. The two princes never had been in charge of cooking, because they were first of all too busy with more important things and secondly they were princes. That knowing how to cook was never bad and a very important survival skill seemed not to have ever crossed anyone's mind.
So far, Hakuyuu had not seen anything unusual around their camp and he doubted that anyone were near. Of course, there was never a 100 % guarantee that no bandits or alike were around. Those kind was good at hiding, even in territories that barley provided any hiding spots and there were slave trades that took anything and anyone they could lay hands on. Well, such a bunch would probably not try to mess with an army of the Kou Empire. Enslaving a prince would bring a fortune of money, but was not worth it considering the trouble such an act would inevitably bring with it. The question now was, how things in regards to wild animals were. Hakuyuu hadn't seen much. Birds and insects, but nothing more. It was a bit strange. On the contrary, animals probably avoided human routes. Humans were dangerous for them and the world was wide, so they probably had better places to be than near a camp. Not that Hakuyuu never had encountered a wolf or even a bear – or any other wild animal –, while camping. It was just a rare case. Maybe he never had camped at the right places or always had camped at the right places and therefore was lucky enough to not encounter wild animals that wanted him dead. Thinking about it now, most of the time his people had the luck to either find a city or a fort to rest in. Such places were much safer than an open field. However, Hakuyuu paid more attention to the scenery than anything else. His mind was not really up for "complicated" thinking now. The sun had begun to set and the mild wind played with the verdurous grass. Normally one would feel at peace at this moment. Unfortunately, Hakuyuu was not allowed to feel that way. When he look in the distant towards his goal, he felt uneasy. A mix of guilt, sadness and something one could describe as some kind of presentiment raised in his chest. He felt tiered, he felt like he had forgotten something important, as if he had forgotten someone important, he felt heavy. It was an uneasy feeling that he could not put into words entirely and to be honest, he did want to even think about it much. So, he brushed that feeling aside as good as he could. Focusing on something else might help to forget his discomfort.

A distraction came in form of Hakuren, who more or less jumped at him with a big smile on his face.
"Why do you look so angry?", he asked.
"I do not. I was looking at the sunset", Hakuyuu explained, fully knowing that he looking at the sunset did not automatically excluded the possibility of having an angry expression.
"Yeah, I figured that much out by myself. That was also the reason why I am wondering, why you look so angry. A sunset is something beautiful and nice, nothing to be angry about."
Hakuyuu was not angry, not at the sun or the sunset nor angry with anyone or anything.
"I was in thoughts. Maybe I looked angry because of that."
"And what did you thought about?"
Well, that was a good question.
"About everything."
A standard answer. A dissatisfying answer.
"I see."
A short moment of silence followed. Hakuren looked at the sunset, his hands behind his head and a content smile on his lips.
"One day the sun will set and raise the next day in a world free of war. Isn't that great? One day the sun will set in a world filled with war for the last time and rise into a world to shine upon everyone!"
The sun was already shining upon everyone, but Hakuyuu understood what Hakuren intended to say.
"Yes, one day, maybe. I wonder, if we will be able to be part of such a world."
"Huh? What are you talking about? Of course we will! That's what we're fighting for! Stop being so pessimistic all the time! There is no reason for us to not see that day happening."
"There are a lot of reason, why we may not see this day. One of them is the simple fact that we are mortal and one day we will die, because we're old. You know for how long we are fighting this war against Gai and Go. And it is far from over. Do you think, unifying the rest of the world will go faster? Will be easier? Don't fool yourself into thinking that. Maybe you're a little bit too optimistic in this case."
"Man! You're such a hand full! Well, if you are too pessimistic and I am too optimistic, we even each other out, I guess. But really, try to be more positive! You will drag everyone down with your way too serious thinking. It is not motivating at all to think that one will never see a peaceful world. And who knows, maybe after we unified the three kingdoms the rest of the world will be more peaceful and open to our goal."
"You're a lost case."
"You too! By the way, the camp is set up and dinner is almost ready, so let's go."
Without waiting for a response, Hakuren turned around and walked towards the middle of the camp, where the fire was set up and the soldiers were gathering. Everyone was hungry and dinner smelled nice!

Hakuyuu looked away from the sunset towards the camp. He was hungry as well. Just when he made his first step a cold shiver run down his body and made him stop. A whisper in his ear let him look behind his back. No one was there. Of course! Just his imagination! Maybe he should put on something warmer and go to bed early. Getting sick was undesirable after finally being well again and out on the field.

Maybe, if he had known that his feeling of uneasiness was a warning, if he had known that the whisper was not his imagination, but a warning, maybe he had returned to the palace. On the other hand, it would not have stopped the inevitable from happening, but maybe he would have been more prepared for it – knowing that something bad was about to happen and that this meant a lot of hardship for him and his family. However, Hakuyuu did not know anything.