Night came up fast to the three and they needed a place to stay in since it's dangerous at night. So many things might be crawling around such as wolves, bears, wild animals. Kano honestly hated those. Luckily they found a cottage without anyone in it. They decided to stay in for the night. They set up a a fire by the fire place and let down three mats they found in a stock room.

But before they slept they had dinner. Konoha said he was getting hungry and he needed something to eat. With luck still up their sleeves, they found some meat and beans. Cooked it up and served it to each other.

And then they fell asleep.

Not Kano though. he couldn't sleep, not with Kido away from him once again. He then let half of his body up and checked on the two if they really were asleep. Ene was mumbling something while Konoha snored like a pig. He smiled, stood up, and walked towards the porch outside.

As he stepped out, he saw two figures slowly walking towards the cottage. He let his head forward and saw one of the figures looked very familiar, even in the dark.

"Onee-chan?"

Shin and Ayano have been walking for the whole day until night came.

"Where do we stay now?" Ayano asked Shin.

Shin looked around to see if there was any sign of shelter. "I don't see any cave. Maybe I could just-"

"I'm not staying in a cave." Ayano said in a sweet tone. "That's not what I was taught."

Shin lifted one brow up. "You think?" he said. "Okay, princess, where do you think we should stay for the night?"

"Woah!" Ayano said waving her hands in front of her. "From now on, you do not call me princess."

"Then what do I call you?"

"Ayano."

"Ayano?"

"Why, what's so wrong with that?"

Shin turned away. "Nothing. We should probably keep on going if we want shelter." he said walking ahead of her.

Before Ayano walked, she looked around until she saw smoke going up to the sky coming from nowhere. "Shin," she said pointing at the smoke. "What do you think is over there?"

They then walked to where the smoke was coming from until they saw a small little cottage.

"I knew there was something around these parts." Ayano said as she ran towards the cottage.

"Ayano, wait!" Shin said as he followed her. "Maybe someone is there."

And he was right. Ayano and Shin saw someone standing by the porch of the cottage. The face wasn't clear but they both could tell it was a boy. They moved closer until Ayano heard, "Onee-chan?"

"Shuuya?" Ayano said as she familiarized the voice.

"My God! What are you doing here?" Kano said as he ran towards her.

"Shuuya!" Ayano said happily as she ran towards the younger boy and hugged him. Even though Kano was younger, she was a lot shorter than him. "Someone's in the palace and he's mad and he wanted me dead and he..."

"Onee-chan, easy! Calm down." Shuuya said shaking her. "Deep breath in and exhale."

Ayano did what Kano asked her to do and looked at him. "I left the kingdom because there's someone over there who wants anyone of royal blood dead so he himself could control the entire land."

"What?" Kano said in shock and his attention was brought to another boy who was behind Ayano. "Who's this?"

"Oh," Ayano said looking at Shin and glancing back at Kano. "Shuuya, this is Shin. He saved me from Kuroha."

"Kuroha? Isn't that the guy who-"

"Took away Tsu-chan's glove? Yes." Ayano said with a nod.

"Kano," another girl's voice said as the door closed behind her. "Who are you-"

"Whaaaa!" Shin and Ene said together in shock.

"Master?! What are you doing here?!" Ene said pointing at Shin.

"Master?" Ayano said looking at Shin.

"I don't know why she calls me that." he then turned his gaze to Ene. "What about you? What are you doing here?!" he yelled at Ene.

"You answer me first!"

"No you answer me first!"

The two started arguing at each other. Ayano and Kano couldn't help but laugh at what they were looking at.

And Konoha came out.

"Ene, Shintaro, why are you yelling at each other?" he asked as he stepped out the door.

"It's master's fault." Ene said in a spoiled way as she crossed her arms.

"Shintaro, you shouldn't yell at girls."

Shintaro shrugged and then his eyes widened. "Wait! Konoha! Don't call me that!"

"Call you what? Shintaro? That's your name, isn't it."

"Shintaro?" Ayano said with a confused face as she looked at Shin. "What is he talking about?"

"Master, there you go again lying to others. You're not so good at it you know." Ene said. "But you actually did it with this girl. Not bad."

"Lying?" Ayano said looking at Shin with a more confused look.

Ene let one arm around Ayano's shoulders. "Listen here, this guy in the red jacket, he's not who you think he is."

"Ene..." Shin said in a shaky tone.

"He's the eldest son of the Kisaragi Witch, Shintaro."

"Ene..."

"And.. I think he's hitting on you."

"Stop it!" Shin said as he started chasing Ene. Ene laughed while she floated in mid ari (since she didn't have any feet).

"Your real name is Shintaro?" Ayano asked.

Shintaro stoped chasing Ene and looked at Ayano. A deep sigh came out and he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, sure, whatever. My real name is Shintaro."

"Ha!" Ene said pointing at Shintaro. She approached Ayano again and wrapped her arm around Ayano's shoulder. "So remember that stupid name. Shin. Ta. Ro." and she laughed as she floated back to the porch of the cottage.

Ayano giggled. "You know, it was okay if you didn't hid your real name."

"Sorry." Shintaro said as he scratched the back of his head. "Are you mad."

"I wouldn't be mad." Ayano said with a smile. "What about me? If I told you my name isn't Ayano, would you still be with me here?"

"I would, since you are a princess."

Ayano smiled. "Exactly. But what if I wasn't a princess, just a small town girl."

Shintaro looked away. "I honestly don't know."

Ayano pinched Shintaro's cheek. "Exactly."

Ayano then ran towards the porch. "Come on! The sun doesn't rise until later."

Shintaro stared at Ayano for a while and saw how the wind blew on her. His cheeks flushed red and he looked away. "S-sure, I'll catch up."

Ayano smiled and went inside the wooden cottage where the others were in already.

Shintaro hit his head several times. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" He repeated what he had just did until he heard a weird noise coming from the woods not so far from the cottage.

And a tall, dark figure came out.

Oh no!

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Thank you so much for al your reviews! Sorry I haven't been able to post in a while. Busy with school and other shit. But anyways, I really appreciate you guys for following and liking my story. Don't worry. This doesn't end here. I think I'm planning on making this story a little bit longer than expected of you guys.

Thank so much once again!

~the author