The prince and his cousin went outside the walls to meet with their soldiers (which were few people) to tell them the conditions and readily accepted. Except for the fourth one, they had slightly argued against it but the prince reasoned (though it was a different reason from Shazara) the army accepted. They didn't say anything about the island being a secured home for the royals nor about the bracelet.

Later they met the masked 9 year old Shazara, who wore a black haori and a dark purple with cherry blossoms petals pattern long chima, and a man, Veiron, behind her also wearing a mask and wore a black durumagi and a grey baji.

Like that, they left the lands of Ryuushaku. After crossing the whirlpools, they halted for Shazara to start her spell and dropped some of her blood in the ocean. It took almost a day to complete the spell. When it was complete, Shazara was completely exhaust and could barely stand.

Later Shazara explained to Hakuyuu that as long as she or anyone within her bloodline was alive, the spell would forever be there.

A week later they finally reached the lands of Kou and travelled on horses to which Shazara was excited to see new creatures.

They travelled on horse and rested at night until they reached the capital of Kou.

At the moment, Shazara was looking everywhere and at the people and examined them. Hakuyuu smiled at the girl. He had grown fond of her during their journey back to Kou. He has spared with her in the art of sword which surprised him greatly because she was being acrobatic while using her sword, he taught her how to ride a horse, they shared funny stories and he even let her cuddle with him during it was night.

Hakuyuu watched as the young leader came back kind of sad. The prince was about to ask what was wrong but it seemed like Koumei also notice her sadness because Koumei beat him to it.

Koumei had also grown fond of her. They would talk about their own countries history and goals. Koumei also told her about the animals and about Kou royal etiquette and practiced together.

"They all wear similar clothes and the designs have no color," was her response. They both remembered that Ryuushaku was colorful and extravagant. The people there were well all about art though the only difference were that some were magicians and some were swordsman.

Shazara was special. She could wield a sword and perform space and time magic.

Hakuyuu was disappointed that he couldn't see the girl's beautiful amethyst eyes. He tried to the convince her that nothing would happen to her if she took off her mask but Shazara was stubborn and aided by her guard, Veiron.

"Shazara, we are almost at the palace," Hakuyuu informed.

Shazara nodded and got onto the horse she was given.

Soon they reached the palace where many people waited for them while bowing their heads.

"Prince, we are glad you have returned," said a man before he glanced at Shazara.

"Who may this lady be?"

Hakuyuu dismissed the question by asking his own question, "Where is my father?"

The man quickly guided the prince who grabbed Shazara's hand and followed.

Shazara followed and saw that Koumei said behind and wave slightly at her.

They finally stopped in the middle of the audience room. In sync, both Shazara and Hakuyuu clasped their hands and bowed down at the person in front of them. Shazara had yet to look at the person. Koumei had taught her not to look until the said person said it was okay.

"Stand," the person, a man, said and they both did.

Shazara looked up to see and older Hakuyuu in extravagant clothing and a long hair tied in a low pony tail.

"Hakuyuu-sama?!" Shazara yelped in surprise. Yes, she had learned the sama and san and chan and etc from Koumei. She quickly looked to left to look at a surprised and original Hakuyuu.

"There are two Prince Hakuyuu?!" she shrieked.

The room was silenced before the man sitting burst laughing and slowly everyone followed his example. Hakuyuu was slightly embarrassed as he closed eyes and had his head bowed.

"He is the emperor and my father," the first prince explained in a hushed.

Shazara blushed and bowed deeply as she apologized but the emperor waved her off.

"I am glad you came back safe Hakuyuu," the emperor said.

The son nodded.

"So who might this girl be?" he asked.

"Father, this girl is Shuuran Shazara from a merchant family that was attacked during my way back home. Her parents passed away and her guard the only one left," Hakuyuu lied. He didn't like lying but he had to follow the conditions.

"I fell in love with her and decided to take her hand," it wasn't a complete lie. He did decide to take her hand but he wasn't sure if he was in love with the girl though he didn't mind to have the girl as his wife. Something told him that he would love her as time passed. They would grow to learn to love each other and that Hakuyuu didn't mind. Shazara was intelligent and knew how to wield a sword. She could stand beside him in a battle field. The idea of having an equal partner made his chest feel warm.

The advisors were silent as they processed what the prince said before they tried to change his mind but the emperor silenced them.

"What about Ryuushaku Territory that was mentioned in our text?" asked the emperor.

"We were able to cross the ring of whirlpools but the island seems to be a mere mirage," Hakuyuu didn't completely lie but a lie was a lie, he tensed a bit.

The emperor examined his son for a moment before turning his attention to Shazara who seemed be looking at him in fascination.

"Your clothes," he said.

Shazara immediately looked at her attire to see if anything was out of place but when seeing there were none she looked back at the emperor.

"They don't really look like Kou's clothing but they seem to be high quality of cotton and silk and detailed carefully."

Shazara smiled in pride. Clothes were part of art after all and her people were all about art.

"Your highness, my family liked to be unique so we may have modified how we wear our clothes and when we finally wanted to introduce it, we got attacked," Shazara said and bowed her head.

"I wish to keep wearing what my family worked so hard to create."

The emperor nodded before looking back at Hakuyuu and said, "Being the daughter of a merchant, she must be intelligent. You chose well."

Like that Hakuyuu and Shazara were dismissed of the audience room and they both went to the garden.

"Haku, you look exactly like the emperor!" Shazara commented with a bright smile to which Hakuyuu return with his own.

"Then you will be quite surprise how my siblings look similar to me."

Shazara looked confused at the smiling prince until they heard someone yell.

"Aniki!"

The masked girl and the prince looked at the owner of the boy making Shazara gasp as her eyes widened in surprise behind her mask. She looked from Hakuyuu to the person was getting closer and closer repeatedly. This man was also part of Hakuyuu's future.

"Hakuren, I see you have been doing well," Hakuyuu commented.

"Of course! Who do you think I am?" Hakuren said.

"Three Hakus!" yelped Shazara.

Hakuren finally noticed of the masked girl while looking at her if she lost her mind.

"Three Hakus?" asked the younger Haku.

Hakuyuu sighed and nodded at his younger brother.

"She met father too," he explained, "apparently we look like an exact copy of each other. It seems like we look exactly the same too."

Hakuren nodded understanding the situation before grinning.

"Well she is also right about us being Hakus for we are HAKUyuu, HAKUren and our old man being HAKUtoku."

Hakuren laughed as Hakuyuu gave his sibling a disapproving glance at how he referred their father.

"There is also Hakuei and Hakuryuu!"

Shazara clasped her hands together and stood in her tiptoes and smiled adorably at Hakuren.

"More Hakus?!" asked Shazara.

Hakuren nodded just as excited.

"Want to see them?"

"Yes!"

Hakuren took Shazara's hand quickly pulled her to where his younger siblings were leaving the first prince tailing behind them.

Shazara stared at the adorable 1 year old Hakuryuu who was being held in Hakuyuu's arms. He looked almost exactly like Hakuryuu. At the moment the baby Haku was looking curiously at the masked girl as Hakuren went to get Hakuei from her room.

"Yuu," Shazara called gaining the prince's attention.

Yuu? the prince thought surprised at the new identity the young leader gave him.

Hakuyuu waited for the girl to continue as she watched her giving her pinky towards the youngest sibling. Hakuryuu grasped at the pinky before pushing it to his mouth.

"Will our children be as adorable as little Ryuu?"

Hakuyuu smiled at the thought of having children with the masked girl. Will they have his or her eyes? What about their nose or ears? Will they grow his soft dark blue hair or Shazara's dark coal locks? He wasn't sure but he knew one thing.

"Our children will be perfect for us," Hakuyuu said gently.

Shazara looked up at the oldest Haku and fondly smiled at him.

"I brought Hakuei!" their moment was interrupted by Hakuren as he pushed his little sister in the room. The girl wore pink Kou clothes and a simple gold hair ornament.

Like the rest of her siblings she had soft dark blue hair, blue eyes and a mole on the left side of the chin. Shazara was amazed how the siblings were able to look almost exactly the same. Well Hakuren, Hakuei and Hakuryuu looked the same. Hakuei could be the female version of both Hakuren and Hakuryuu. As for Hakuyuu, he was the exact copy of the emperor himself except for the beauty mark.

Hakuei seemed shy. She was younger than Shazara. From what Shazara had heard from Hakuyuu, Hakuyuu himself was 17, Hakuren was 14, Hakuei was 6 and Hakuryuu was 1.

She also asked for Koumei's age, who was a year older than Shazara.

Shazara smiled at the younger girl and took her hands to greet her fondly but the moment Shazara took Hakuei's hands, Shazara gasped and flinched away from Hakuei.

Hakuyuu was immediately beside Shazara as Hakuren to Hakuei.

Hakuyuu looked at the masked girl. She seemed to be shaken. Her happy aura had left her body and she looked at his little sister behind her mask. He could her sweat a bit. What had happened?

That day Shazara had only said...

Fire...