"I have to WHAT!?"
Sylfie snickered at the dumbfounded look on the young prince's face.
"Oh, it's not that bad." She assured, pushing him away from his dragon, the two of them having just landed, and towards the house.
"No way! I'm not doing it!" He squirmed out of her grasp and moved out of arm's reach, glaring coldly at his aunt.
"Please?" The green haired woman put on her best puppy dog look. Toshiro thanked his experience with Momo and Rangiku's similar expressions and stood firm.
The Greenleaf Head of House had called him out of the palace and to her home, being very vague about why she wanted his sudden visit. Once there, however, she quickly explained what it was he was doing.
He had to help the woman babysit.
He had to help babysit a bunch of royal brats who grew up in luxury and didn't understand the word 'no' when it was told to them and would probably drive him crazy. Myndræl sympathized and was attempting to even sneak towards his partner and escape when Dimara, the diamond beauty who usually watched over Dragon Isle, showed up and prevented his recovery. Toshiro was effectively trapped.
"If it helps, this could work towards that mark Tranquility." Sylfie pushed, knowing the boy was eager to complete the brand before his father could no longer move. It seemed to perk his interest but he remained adamant. "Come on, Shiro."
"Don't call me Shiro." He immediately snapped.
"Say, do you like candy?" The woman suddenly questioned and he stumbled on an answer.
"Are you trying to bribe me?"
"No, the kids like it."
"I don't hold any fondness for sweet things."
"Hm…" The woman pondered something for a moment and he was sure she'd just tried to bribe him. She seemed to come up with something and Flash Stepped behind him with a devilish grin. "What if I grabbed Karin to come help you?"
Toshiro grimaced. He blamed Sofia for the woman knowing how he felt about the human.
"You want me to do this that badly?" He growled.
"I do." She beamed. "Besides, these kids would feel honored to have the Ice Prince look after them, not to mention their parents would be grateful to you."
"I'm not going to be their babysitter."
"Oh no, they came to me for that. You just came to help because you're such a kind young prince."
"More like you tricked me."
"So will you help?"
"No."
"Oh dear, guess I'll have to grab our dear Fire Princess and bring her here."
"You wouldn't."
The woman, having been walking away, turned back to him with a smirk and noticed with amusement that he had a slight blush accompanying his scowl and icy glare. For a moment she thought he might refuse just so she would bring Karin back, but eventually he gave in with a sigh and headed towards the mansion. He didn't want to take her away from training just to help him babysit.
There were seven kids of various ages inside, running around the large open area where he'd first met Lilianna. Well, almost all of them were running around. There was one sitting up against the wall with his knees tucked up, short hair dark auburn and big eyes green, wearing a richly decorated dark blue kimono. Curious as to why he was on his own and not doing what children his age normally did, Toshiro approached him. Sylfie watched with interest.
"Is something wrong?" He questioned the child.
Startled by the sudden voice, the boy looked up so fast he might have gotten whiplash. In fact, he even fell over.
"U-um." The boy stuttered, cheeks going red with embarrassment.
Toshiro held a hand out to help him up and the child took it cautiously. He knew exactly who it was he was helping him, the Ice Prince himself.
"Why aren't you with the other kids?" Toshiro asked, kneeling down so he was at eye level with the boy. The boy looked away, finding it hard to hold a gaze with such cold teal eyes.
"Um…I'm not very athletic." He murmured. "And I don't know anyone."
"Neither do I." Toshiro looked over the other six children running around. Two of them had paused and were looking at them curiously. They waved as he looked at them and he lifted his hand in a small return wave. Giggling, the two girls went back to playing with the boys. "Actually I was expecting a lot more screaming."
The young royal laughed at that and Toshiro stood.
"If you need anything come see me." He said. "Oh, what's your name?"
"Noah." He said. "My family is part of the Northern European branches."
Nodding to show he heard, Toshiro stayed put while Noah walked out to try and talk to someone.
"See, not so bad." Sylfie teased and the tiny smile on his face was quickly replaced with a scowl.
"That one was okay, the others I'm not sure about." He replied.
"Oh they're all good kids, they've been here before." She put an arm over his shoulders. "They know what they can and can't touch and where not to go, I made sure of that. You just get to know them, one day they might be the head of their family and if they remember how nice you were to them as children they'll back you up."
"So this is a political play?" He quirked an eyebrow at her.
"In the long run it could be, but my goal today was just to get you out of your shell and meet new people." She pushed him forward and his arms flailed a bit as he tried to keep his balance. "They won't bite!"
"Will you stop that!?"
Flashing a smile the woman quickly disappeared inside.
"Honestly." He heaved a sigh and crossed his arms.
'You do need to talk to someone.' Hyorinmaru pointed out. 'After weeks of keeping yourself trapped in the library you could use some living contact.'
'Shut up.'
The dragon laughed, worsening the boy's mood.
Since he only knew young Noah, he supposed he should get to know the others as well, but he didn't necessarily want to get in the middle of their fun. They were playing soccer, something he didn't think was common here in the Soul King's Realm. Well, the sport had been around for a long time, he supposed it wasn't that big of a surprise. So, he stood off to the side and simply watched them, reminded of the many times he'd helped Karin and her team with a game.
'Again with the daydreaming.'
'I am NOT daydreaming.'
Mood soured again, Toshiro almost missed the ball heading his way. When it had nearly hit him he snapped out of his inner conversation and swiftly caught it. It was out of bounds anyway.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" One of the older boys ran up, blonde hair a mess.
"Don't worry about it, something like that won't hit me." Toshiro tossed it back to him.
"Wanna play?" One of the two girls asked, popping up from behind the older boy with blue eyes wide and a big grin on her face, long brown hair tumbling down in its ponytail. "It would even out the teams."
Toshiro thought about it for a moment. He supposed one game couldn't hurt, and it would keep them occupied, not to mention he could learn their names. That would be important.
"Alright." He moved away from the wall and followed them onto their make-shift field.
They told him where they had assigned their 'goals' and whose team he was on before they began to play once more. They learned quickly that he was rather good at soccer, much better than they were. It was obvious he'd played the sport before and the team he'd been out on silently cheered in victory. His position as the Soul Prince was forgotten momentarily as they continued to play.
When it was over the three kids on his team flocked to him, praising his skill. When one asked him how he'd gotten so good, they saw him pause for a moment.
"I used to play it with the others in the Rukongai."
With that he returned to the wall. Tired out, the children sat in small groups with each other and simply chatted, the youngest ones taking naps. Noah was one of the latter, having made friends with one of the girls and one of the boys, the two of them talking while young Noah slept with his head in the girl's lap.
'Well, they were definitely not what I was expecting.' Toshiro mused. 'I'd met children of nobles before and they were all brats.'
'You weren't an angel yourself as a child.' Hyorinmaru snorted.
'Nobody ever attempted to actually TRY to get to know me except Momo; she was the only one who could tell I was being sarcastic.'
'Well, you were rather harsh.'
'People were harsh to me.'
Hyorinmaru said nothing to that.
Eventually Sylfie returned to check up on them with some candy treats for them and they flocked to her excitedly, grabbing their share. She attempted to give one to the young prince but he refused it. With a pout, she ate it instead.
"You're not that bad with the kids." Sylfie gave a shrug.
"They aren't like the children of the nobles in the Soul Society." Toshiro replied. "They have manners."
"I made sure of that." She winked. "These kids are the nicest of the whole lot, the others I can't stand…though sometimes these guys can get a little out of hand."
"Hopefully I'm not here for that."
Nodding, Sylfie went quiet and continued eating her lollipop, watching the children laugh and play around with each other. The sugar had gotten them moving again.
"Hey Shiro." She suddenly said.
"Don't call me Shiro."
"Have you ever seen a fairy?"
He blanched, completely caught off guard and unable to reply.
"Just curious, I've never seen one." The woman shrugged again.
"You're strange…"
"I think you should go see Karin."
"Wh-I…Stop changing the subject!"
Sylfie snickered at the scowl on his face. She loved doing that. She hadn't found anyone yet that was capable of keeping up with her thoughts.
"But you should." She told him.
He took a moment to go back through the conversation before he was able to answer.
"I planned on going back soon to see who all would be able to train here, where their power would increase faster to the needed level. The Head Captain has yet to give a reply on whether or not he wants to join this fight and I won't take his forces from him before then.
"Yet you planned on going back soon."
"To speak with the Head Captain, yes. I wish to know his opinion on this fight."
She nodded her consent and went back to comfortable silence.
"So you plan on marrying her, right?"
"Will you stop that!?"
The woman laughed as his cheeks turned red and quickly retreated, victorious. He had yet to get the better of her.
Once the children returned home, Toshiro was able to go back to his own room. He looked at his birthmark, watching it glow faintly in the darkening light of the evening with a transparent icy blue color. Only one symbol stood within it and he sighed. Getting the others was harder than he'd first thought.
He tensed, feeling uneasy, like someone was watching him. But it was a faint feeling, and it quickly vanished. Still, it set him on edge and he reached a hand up to the pendant around his neck. It was meant originally to let him keep in contact with Momo, though he still did so occasionally, but now it served as the other end of the bracelet he'd given Karin. He hoped his hunch wasn't right.
If he could feel someone watching him through the connection, then they were truly powerful.
Haha, this is what Shiro does while the others train XD Sylfie will occasionally drag him into doing things like this to try and get him out of his shell, and sometimes she's successful ^^ And then there's her habit of changing subjects all of a sudden in the middle of a conversation. One minute you're talking about a fight, the next she wants to know which kind of flower you prefer on a dress XD She's a little scatterbrained.
Enjoy!