For the first time in two weeks, Shirayuki felt safe. When she'd gotten lost on the way to Wistal, she'd started to fear that perhaps she'd never find Zen again, and without any way of getting back in contact, he'd never know what had happened to her. Not to mention that, despite leaving Tanbarun in the middle of the night, she lived in the fear that Raj would somehow discover where she'd gone and track her down long before she could ever reach her best friend's side. She'd never imagined when she sat down beside that old manor house that she would wake up to him literally falling from the sky next to her.
Zen had laughed when she voiced that thought. Shirayuki loved his laugh. She loved how free and open it sounded, the way his sapphire eyes lit up in amusement and the skin around his eyes crinkled. Most of all, she loved being able to see that happen, instead of just having to imagine it.
"Alright, you're all fixed up," Shirayuki declared as she finished tying the bandage around his arm.
"You've gotten better in the last five years," Zen mused, still smiling playfully as he turned his arm back and forth.
"I should hope so," the young herbalist smiled as she packed up her supplies. "I imagine that my previous attempts to treat you left some pretty ugly scars; I wasn't very steady with a needle at the time."
"Ah don't worry about it. Every man needs a battle scar or two, or they won't have any way to impress the ladies," Zen shrugged, and was rewarded for his efforts by a giggle. "So Shirayuki, with business going so well, why did you leave home?"
Shirayuki felt her shoulders tense again. She knew that she should tell him. He deserved the truth, and anyway, she hated to keep secrets from him. They told each other everything, after all. But at the same time, this was the man that had dropped literally everything and traveled non-stop for a week to be at her side when her grandparents passed away. This was the man who would sacrifice everything for the people he cared about, and as much as she loved that about him, he couldn't help her here. Telling him would only hurt him more, because he couldn't fight a prince for her.
So instead, she forced a smile and said simply, "The reason's not important." When Zen looked anything but convinced, she rose to her feet and asked, "Would you like to come get some air with me?"
The cool breeze whispering through the forest worked wonders for Shirayuki's state of mind. Conversation came easily as she and Zen wandered the path, him showing her some of the local flora - he'd been reading up on it since meeting her - and she reminiscing about her studies in Tanbarun, and the similarities between Clarines and her own home. It was a beautiful morning in a beautiful place, and her contentment lasted until she felt the sharp tug against her scalp.
"Ouch!" Shirayuki hissed groping blindly behind her. Zen immediately stepped to her side, leaning in to take a closer look. The young herbalist felt her stomach twist strangely, but she wasn't sure why. It's just Zen…
"Huh. Your hair is caught," he frowned. "You have a strand that's longer than the others."
"I must've missed that one earlier. Uh, Zen? Could you cut it off for me?"
"Hm?"
"It doesn't have to be straight."
Zen began to reach for the knife at his belt, but then hesitated and stepped back, an almost mischievous curl appearing at the corners of his mouth. "Possibly," he began in an almost sing-song tone, "but I'll only do it if you answer a question for me."
"What?"
"Did cutting your hair have something to do with why you left home? If you tell me the reason, maybe then I can help you," Zen continued, the impish light in his eyes turning to a full-on smirk.
Shirayuki fixated him with a glare, but that only seemed to make his smile grow wider. He really was determined to find out what was going on, wasn't he? And he wasn't going to take no for an answer. But seriously, he had the audacity to make the truth a condition for cutting a measly strand of hair? "You're a terrible person," she grumbled. "Fine. Cut me loose and I'll tell you."
Zen snickered, looking far too smug about having won. He looked considerably less smug by the time they sat down on a fallen tree and she explained what had happened. "You were ordered to be a concubine?!" he cried, his voice a mixture of disgust, rage, and something like horror.
"Yes, by a very famous boy," she sighed, staring fixedly at her feet. She didn't dare watch his face as she continued with her story. "He thought my hair was unusual, and wanted to take it for himself. If I had obeyed his order, it would have been just like he was buying an apple at a food stand."
"Shirayu-"
"So that's why I decided that I'd give him at least part of what he wanted, and I left my hair behind," the girl smiled as she rose to her feet, glancing over her shoulder at her friend.
Zen blinked at her, his sapphire eyes wide and startled before he suddenly burst out laughing, much to Shirayuki's surprise. "That was ingenious thinking," he snickered, gasping for breath. "Good job escaping that dunce. It's your lucky red after all."
"What do you mean?"
"Haven't I ever told you before?" Zen smiled, rising to join her and lifting his sword to his shoulder. "Color has meaning, and red is supposed to represent fate. After what happened, I understand if you don't like it much now, but your red may lead you to something good when you least expect it."
Shirayuki blinked at him, wide-eyed as a warm smile turned up the corners of her mouth, her hand automatically reaching for the chain that she still wore around her neck. "LIke when I met you?"
Her old friend seemed startled by her response, a warm blush turning his cheeks a bright shade of pink before he glanced away, smiling shyly. "Well, that's something for you to tell me, I think. Uh, what are you playing with?" he added, evidently grasping for conversation.
"This?" Shirayuki glanced down at her necklace and smiled, holding up its special pendant for him to see. "It's the ring you gave me when we were kids. I didn't want to risk losing it, so I wear it as a necklace. Can't believe I forgot to tell you."
Zen's hand appeared in Shirayuki's field of vision a moment later, gently reaching out to finger the ring. When she glanced up again, she was a little startled to realize that her old friend had stepped up right in front of her, so that she had to tilt her head back slightly to see his face, and the warm, almost flustered smile curling his lips. The young herbalist's heart seemed to leap in her chest at the sight, or perhaps at his proximity, and she felt a little heat of her own rising into her face. She quickly dropped the necklace and turned away, pressing a hand to her chest in an effort to calm her frantically beating heart.
What is wrong with me?! It's just Zen! "W-We should probably head back. Kiki and Mitsuhide are probably wondering where we are."
"R-Right. Yeah."
Despite the awkward moment, the two friends continued to chat, and before long they found themselves exchanging conversation easily once more as they walked, their blushes fading along the way. As the mansion came back into sight, Zen seemed to pause, then run forward, collecting an item at the doorstep before she could see it clearly.
"What's this?" he mused, turning so that she could see the cloth-covered basket held in his hand.
Shirayuki froze, her emerald eyes widening in horror as they focused on the item tied around the handle. "Oh no," she whispered.
"Shirayuki?"
"That's the ribbon I had tied to my hair."
Zen flinched, his eyes snapping up to hers, the cloth sliding from the basket to reveal a pile of bright red apples.
.oOo.
"So it's a gift from your not-so-secret admirer. He's a determined fellow, I'll give him that," Zen growled low in his throat as he flopped down in the chair across from her, glaring at the card that had been tucked in the basket with the apples. "After all, he did come all the way from the border just to find you."
"Right?" Shirayuki giggled nervously, fiddling with the hair ribbon that had been returned with the basket of apples.
"This isn't a joke!" Zen snapped, his sapphire eyes flashing dangerously. "How bad was it that he would chase you all the way from Tanbarun?!"
"I… I didn't expect him to follow me," Shirayuki mumbled. "I'm so sorry; I've put you all in danger."
"Danger? Shirayuki, what are you talking about? Who did this?" Zen asked, the intensity in his expression demanding answers. With a quiet sigh, the young herbalist relented.
"He's someone powerful. The First Prince of Tanbarun."
"Raj?!" Zen yelled, jumping upright and slamming his hand against the table and then hissing in pain as the action jarred his injured arm.
"Are you alright?!"
"That… royal… moron?!"
"Yes, that's him," Shirayuki nodded, still nervously eyeing his arm. "He's so stupid that even all the neighboring countries know it."
Zen groaned as he leaned back in his seat once more. "So this is why I never got a letter from you. I don't I blame you for running so quickly, though - he obviously would never take no for an answer. He doubtless had people everywhere tearing apart all the border crossing records."
"You really think he would go so far?"
"How else would he have found out you went to Clarines? And anyway, if there's something he wants badly enough, he probably already assumes it belongs to him."
"Even if it means caging it. He's awful," the young herbalist sighed reluctantly, reaching out and taking one of the apples from the basket. "It's starting to go bad," she murmured, running her thumb over a dark spot on the apple's otherwise-rosy peel. "This red is no good to anyone now."
Shirayuki sensed more than saw Zen stiffen at her words, and quickly glanced up to where he sat, his brilliant blue eyes mired with so many emotions that she couldn't possibly identify them all, but she could easily make out his outrage and sorrow. "I'm just kidding," Shirayuki said quickly, forcing a smile for his benefit. It wouldn't do for him to know just how much she'd thought about such things on her long journey towards Clarines.
Zen started moving before she could come up with any other way to reassure him that she would be alright. The next thing she knew, he had taken her wrist gently in one hand and lifted it so that he could take a bite right out of the dark spot on the apple. Shirayuki's eyes widened in surprise at the intensity in his, the determination for her to understand how much she meant to him. That, in his eyes, she could never be worthless.
"How uncouth of you."
The two young people choked - Zen in a literal way - in surprise at the voice by the stairs. They both whirled around to see Kiki and Mitsuhide - the former sitting calmly on one of the steps, the latter leaning against the banister with a smug smirk - observing the entire exchange.
"It's her apple, Zen. Why don't you just get your own?"
"What are you-?! Ack!"
"You should either talk or eat; don't do both."
"Nobody asked you! Stay out of it!"
"Well now you're just being rude."
"Zen!"
"What now?!"
Shirayuki leveled a calm stare at her old friend, trying to calm her heart rate and wondering why it was pounding so quickly to begin with, a faint blush threatening to break out across her face. "I was being foolish. I'm sorry."
Zen stared at her for a few seconds, then his expression slowly seemed to darken and he raised a hand to his mouth. The young herbalist frowned at that, wondering if she'd been too harsh with him. Was he mad at her for some reason? "Shirayuki, I would put that apple down if I were you."
"Zen?"
"Kiki, Mitsuhide. Don't get… mad."
"Zen!"
Shirayuki's heart seemed to stop as her best friend suddenly collapsed, his eyes rolling back and his body falling limp. Mitsuhide barely managed to reach him before his head cracked against the ground, thankfully preventing any kind of concussion, but there was still the question of why had he-
Shirayuki's eyes dropped to the apple in her hand, the one that he had warned her to put down; the one that Raj had sent. Dread gripped the pit of her stomach as she rubbed the bitten portion against her sleeve and sniffed it carefully. Sure enough, through the sweet and almost flowery scent, something sour struck her nostrils, confirming her impulsive fear.
"It's poisoned!" she cried, dropping the fruit and rushing to her bag by the couch.
"Can you help him?!" Kiki demanded, borderline frantic judging by the gleam in her dark eyes.
"Give me a moment." Shirayuki frantically dug through the contents of her medicine bag, her heart pounding. She'd only grabbed the bare essentials of her trade when she left home; she hadn't counted on someone being poisoned, least of all Zen! She couldn't let him die; she couldn't! But she didn't have what she needed either. Not again. Not again; oh God not again! Shirayuki thought frantically, her breath coming faster and faster, the images of her grandparents' still faces flashing through her mind. She was an herbalist, she'd had years of training and study, so why couldn't she do anything!? I can't fail him, too!
A low creak startled her out of her spiral of despair, and she twisted away from her bag to see a man walking through the door. "My, my. It seems someone else has tasted the apple instead of Miss Shirayuki," the horribly familiar soldier frowned, his expression otherwise flat and uncaring.
"Who are you?" Mitsuhide demanded angrily as Kiki reached for her sword.
"Hm. This changes things."
"How could you do this!?" Shirayuki demanded, stepping forward with tears pricking her eyes, her anger drowning out every flicker of fear in her heart.
"Calm yourself, Miss," the man sighed wearily. "A certain someone possesses the antidote. I trust now you will come with me quietly?" A faint, almost mocking smile curled his lips, as though he already knew what her answer would be.
And truthfully, Shirayuki knew her answer, too. One glance towards Zen was enough. She couldn't let him die. She wouldn't let him die, whatever the consequences to herself may be.
"Very well," she whispered, swallowing back her tears. "I will go."