Len's POV
I had expected to spend most of the day stuck in bed, with Rin watching me the entire time. But somehow, I slept through the entire day. The medicine Rin gave me must have been extremely potent. I woke up feeling much better, but I felt a bit of disappointment. I was sad that I had slept through the entire day. It felt like I had missed something important, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
I slowly got out of bed. My legs were not feeling weak anymore, and I could easily stand. It felt like I had never collapsed in the first place. I wandered downstairs, and saw Rin lying on the floor asleep. The downstairs was covered in dishes and ingredients. It looked like Rin had been cooking. She was also covered in a fair amount of dirt, making me think that she did a bit of practice outside.
She was sleeping on the floor since she had no other place to sleep. I had taken her bed, and I had been sleeping there for the past week and a half. I felt another pang of pain in my stomach, like what I felt when I collapsed. Am I getting sick again?
I walked over to Rin, and lightly kicked her. She groaned, and flipped over, grabbing onto my foot. I didn't know how to react. I just stood there with her still holding onto my foot. I tried shaking it, trying to get her off. She still seemed sound asleep and didn't let go. She was holding it tightly, like how a child would hold its beloved teddy bear.
I shook my foot harder, a bit irritated that she wouldn't let go. However, I ended up kicking her in the face. Immediately, she woke up and let out a cry of pain. She let go of my foot and put her hands to her face.
"You were on my foot," I explained, thinking that would be enough explanation. Rin stood up, still holding her hands to her face. There seemed to be small tears in the corner of her eyes from the pain. I expected her to start crying, but instead she started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" I asked, confused. I had kicked her in the face. That wasn't something people normally laughed about. Still, she was laughing, her face turning a bit pink. I started to laugh along with her, since her laugh was so infectious. It felt good. I hadn't laughed in years.
"Len, you need to learn to handle people better," Rin giggled. "You can't just kick people in the face."
"It was an accident!" I protested, my face heating up. "I didn't mean to, sorry." I frowned and tried to keep a straight face, trying to show the sincerity of my apology. My expression caused Rin to laugh even more, and through her laugh I knew that my apology was accepted.
"What's going on in here?" a voice said from outside. Leaning on the windowsill was Miku, who was also joined by Kaito. The two of them seemed to be standing awfully close to each other. Isn't it disgusting to be so close to someone? Other people are so dirty.
"Nothing!" Rin smiled, in reply to Miku's question. "Len was just waking me up." She skipped over to the window to talk with Miku and Kaito.
"What are you two doing here?" Rin asked. "It's not like Miku to wake up so early in the morning. She can be such a grouch." Miku's face turned red, and she quickly turned to Kaito, explaining that Rin was lying. Kaito only laughed, which caused Miku to turn even redder.
"Anyways," Miku started, trying to regain her composure. "We came over to tell you about a special party the town is having tonight. Everyone has been in a panic after hearing about the prince. We thought it would be a good idea to lighten up everyone's mood."
"A party!" Rin exclaimed. "We haven't had one of those in a long time."
"Yep!" Miku smiled. "And you're going to spend the day with me, so we can get ready." Miku ran around the house to the door. She quickly opened it and ran inside. She grabbed Rin's hand and pulled her away. The two of them ran off to who knows where.
"You and I get to spend the day together," Kaito said, as he walked into the house too. "But we aren't going to waste the day away like the girls. We have work to do." Kaito pulled a sword out from nowhere and threw it at me. I caught it, but it still felt heavy. It wasn't my sword, so of course it felt heavy. But I still wish that I could handle it better.
I handed Kaito his sword back, and went to grab mine. I was starting to become adjusted to Kaito's practices. My endurance was getting better, and my skills were better, though they were nowhere near as good as Kaito's. However, I'm not too concerned about my sword fighting skills. A prince like me has people to do that for me, but for now I need to learn how to protect myself just a little bit. In case, everyone turns on me if they find out I'm the prince.
I followed Kaito to our normal practice spot. It was an area by a small lake, surrounded by trees. It was shady and cool, which made it great on hot days. As punishment for doing bad, sometimes Kaito made me swim in the lake.
"Are you ready?" Kaito asked, as he held his sword firmly in the air. "I won't hold back." I nodded, and held up my sword too. He lunged at me, running at a frightening speed. I quickly tried to get out of the way, and was successful, but Kaito's sword scraped my cheek, creating a cut.
The cut stung, but if I let something like that stop the fight, I would die immediately. Even a prince like me should be able to handle more than a little cut. While Kaito was turning around to come at me again, I swung my sword back.
It collided with his and made a loud clanging sound. Each of us tried to get a swing at each other, trying to hit our weak spots. I knew for Kaito, it was his back. He couldn't turn around as fast as he wanted, and left an opening for himself. My weakness was my head. My reflexes were too slow, and I couldn't duck fast enough. Kaito could easily swing his sword around, and hit me right in the head.
Our sword fights continued like this for 20 minutes or until we were both tired. Kaito could fight for much longer than me, but even he got tired easily in the heat. After a practice fight, Kaito would help me fix any problems with my form. These little things he fixed were supposed to help me become a more efficient and deadly fighter.
"No!" Kaito shouted. "You have to hold the sword higher; otherwise you'll miss the target." Kaito was a tough teacher. He wasn't afraid to yell or punish me. It irritated me sometimes, since I should be the one telling others what to do, but sometimes I was grateful for it. He was trying to make sure that I could protect myself. I felt a sense of gratitude to Kaito, which I had never felt towards anyone else in the past.
After a few hours of training and a harsh swim in the lake, Kaito declared that practice was over. The two of us collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. We laid there for a while, trying to regain some of our lost energy.
"Did you ever think of going home," Kaito asked, suddenly, as the two of us looked into the clouds. "You've been here for a while, but you've never mentioned anything about it."
"Home… it's not the best place for me to be right now," I said, trying to sound nonchalant about it.
"But don't you have someone to go back to?" Kaito asked. "A place where you're welcome and people want to see you." I almost laughed. At the palace, I bet people were still rioting in the streets causing problems. Protesting about foolish things that don't even matter. They certainly didn't want me back.
"All I have is my cousin," I confessed. "He's really all I have at home. There are servants and butlers, but they don't seem to care too much. That's never bothered me though."
"You're lucky," Kaito sighed. "That's more than any of us have. Our families and friends have been completely destroyed by the prince. My parents were taken, though they didn't love me much. Still, I was left alone. Rin lost her brother. Oliver and Yuki lost their parents, and so many others have suffered. Yeah, you're lucky alright.
For a moment, there was silence. Was I lucky? I did have more than everyone else. I had Dell and at least I had others who would pretend to like me. I didn't have to live a harsh life like everyone in this village did. I didn't have to worry about my safety or how I would support others. Maybe I was lucky.
But all this pain that everyone has suffered. Is it really all because of me? Is this all my fault? All the things Kaito speaks about, I don't even remember doing all of it, but I must have. Who else could have done it? To think about the terrible things I did to everyone makes that sick feeling come back to me.
"Let's not think about all this crap," Kaito said, sitting up. "Sorry I brought it up. We shouldn't dwell on the bad things, but think about everything we have now. I mean, without the prince I would have never met Miku." Kaito's eyes turned distant and his face turned a bit red.
"That's beside the point though," Kaito said. "Let's focus on the party later. We are all in need of some fun, right? Let's get ready. Clean up a bit, and maybe get a change of clothes." Kaito stuck out his hand, and helped me stand up. He seemed excited for the party later, and I felt a bit of excitement too.
Rin's POV
"Miku, is this really worth all the trouble?" I asked. "It's just a small party to have some fun. It isn't a fancy ball or anything."
"It doesn't matter," Miku frowned. "A party is a party and I'm not letting an opportunity like this go. This is a chance to where a nice dress and impress Kaito. He might even dance with me," Miku added dreamily.
"Dancing?" I asked. "Yes," Miku nodded. "There'll be music and everything. Kiyoteru will play his fancy instrument, and Gumi will play her fiddle. That'll be enough. Even if it isn't the same time of music that prince gets, it's enough for me!"
"Can you even dance?" I asked. Miku nodded, and pulled out a dress from her small closet. It was simple, nothing fancy, but it would be enough to impress Kaito. It was a light blue. I wonder where she got the fabric for that? I don't remember buying anything like that from the market place.
"There's one for you too!" Miku exclaimed, pulling out another dress. It was yellow and very beautiful. The stitching looked like Miku's, but I still wondered where she got all this fabric. "Where did you get the stuff to make these?" I asked. I held the dress carefully, admiring it. I hadn't been able to where a dress since Rinto was taken away. Dresses were impractical and were hard to run in. They were a foolish thing to where in battle.
"I sent Mikuo out to get supplies some time ago, just for emergencies like this," Miku smiled. "Besides, what does it matter? We just need to enjoy tonight. We don't get fun like this often. We're always so focused on revenge and all that. It's kind of sad."
"I suppose your right," I sighed. It was sad that we were devoting our lives to overthrowing the prince, but what else could we do. It was the only way I could get Rinto back. That was worth all the hardships we had gone through.
"Now let's clean up," Miku said. "The party will be starting a few hours before sunset. That doesn't give us much time to get ready." Miku showed me to a bucket of water to wash my hands in. I glanced at my reflection in the water. My face was a bit dirty, and my hair was a mess. I remember a time when I could care about appearances. Rinto would always help me fix my bow, and made sure I looked tidy.
Now I was on my own, and I didn't have time to care about appearances. There were people to feed and work to do. It was all more important, though sometimes I wish I didn't have to live like this. Though I hate the prince, I envy him. He gets to live life to its fullest, not ever having to worry about anything.
That is a life that everyone would like to live, but only people like him can. I took another look at the dress Miku had made for me and smiled. Tonight was a night to indulge and forget our problems. Perhaps I could use a break. I plunged my hands into bucket, and splashed water on my face. The dirt came off, and I saw specks of it in the bucket.
My face looked cleaner and in the reflection, I could see my smiling face. I was excited. This would be a night of fun that we wouldn't get for a long time. I couldn't wait to enjoy it.