Y'all ever notice how they have an image of Kyou Kai on the grass in the second opening and she's in a body pillow position? Yeah, there was never a scene like that and it triggered me. It's not like I brought that up for a reason. Good day.

花

"Kyou Kai, spar with me."

"Why?"

"C'mon, no one has been willing to fight me today. How am I suppose to train with just simple things like push-ups?"

"I'd like to sleep instead, Shin, so leave me alone."

Glance.

"Alright, alright, maybe my stature is a bit too frightening for a little girl like you."

"Shin, a weak strategy like trying to aggravate me isn't going to w-"

Stolen.

"W-Shin!?"

Inspection.

"Hmm, Rokyusui is quite the blade; pretty light too."

"Give it back!"

A jump attack, but also a dodge. A follow-up attack, yet another parry. A third, but this time a counter.

"I think the aggravation worked, don't you?" A laugh escaped.

A slight red tint, albeit hidden from the other as to not be more embarrassed.

"You..." Her eyes showed the flame of rage, yet he gave her the stare of passion- a fight, the exact thing he wanted.

Shin's first successful strategy: get beat up by a little girl who's stronger than him will be checked off soon.

With no hesitation, Kyou Kai launched her fist at him, but the boy's larger left hand easily blocked the vanguard attack as he held onto the girl's sword in the other. Her jade green eyes looked directly into Shin's pupil's and told him that this was only the beginning of her retaliation. A barrage of punches and kicks were thrown in the next second after her previous failed attempt, this time the male struggling to keep up with the agility of the lightweight and well-versed martial artist. She seemed to be in a weakened state without her sword, Rokyusui, despite her apparent ability in fighting against a much larger foe, to the point that she hadn't started her dance-thing, as Shin would put it. No matter how much her skill seemed to quiver and fluctuate, even if given no weapon to fight with, Kyou Kai was, no doubt, still unrealistically formidable as an opponent.

Suddenly, her movements started to become faster, or maybe it was Shin that was starting to react more slowly- either way, to him it was like a flash of white was trying its best to retrieve what belonged to it. At one point, it grasped the hilt of the blade he grasped with his right hand, however, that was in vain as it had no effect of the evidently stronger male's grip. In a way, each had weaknesses that were opposite of each other.

Unexpectedly, Shin threw the girl's sword back and unsheathed his own, the one Hyou gave him, which rested on his back. A crowd of Hi Shin soldiers started to gather at one side of the battle rather than in a circle. Maybe the battle between the State of Qin supreme commander and State of Zhao supreme commander was a battle between dragons, but as fighters with decades of experience, they knew how to fight in an orderly manner. Kyou Kai and Shin, however, were beasts who fought without limitation, and therefore no cage could contain them within its confinements. Some of the bastards started to place bets on who would come out on top. This happened with most fights within the unit, however, so it wasn't out of the ordinary. The betting was mostly one-sided: Kyou Kai would be the victor.

"So I don't have a choice now?" She rhetorically asked with an unamused expression.

He, however, was the opposite: ecstatic, motivated, and full of energy. "You don't have to, but since we're already here, we might as well."

A quiet but large sigh escaped her pale, pink lips as she lowered her head and eyes slightly towards the ground. "Fine," the girl complied with his request, "I'll give you a reason to stop challenging me." Her stare was undeniably menacing and ferocious.

Most of the onlookers were glad that such eyes weren't pointed towards them; the mysterious girl's dark aura presented itself in a most frightening way, and yet he was unfazed. The Qin men could not understand how Shin could stare into the faces of death and despair with an enthusiastic smile as he always did. Chances didn't matter- win or lose, the victor is superior: that was all that mattered.

X

suspense

X

tension

X

silent but thundering

X

"The battle between two leaders of the famed Hi Shin Unit was about to commence," declared the aggressive stance both took, neither backing down.

Shin's black hair waved with the cool, light breeze like a raven's feathers as it soared through the skies. He wore no armor, contradictory to his position as a general; exposed without any leather or metal plating, Shin was even more amazing in how he feared the gaze of no man- none within the borders of Qin nor those who despised the state from the outside.

Kyou Kai's short height was made up for in her intelligence and fighting ability. The two bangs that hung from the side of her head elegantly moved from side to side. Never was she a particularly open person, and no one really understood why she opened up to Shin; not even she knew. Was it was a longing for someone to finally understand her predicament, or was it something more? No, her reasoning was much simpler; it wasn't an impulsive feeling of mutual understanding or a "love at first sight" or some idiotic opportunism that would come out of the mouth of a hopeful child looking for friends in the fields of a new village. Yes, the logic was... so much linear.

Faster than light, it seemed; the slash of a sword, the sound of a clang caused by both individual's weapons clashing. Shin had no time to think about how he would react, he could only act upon instinct. The next move was a stabbing attack but was ricochet off of the wide portion of the boy's sword. Using the force of her steps and the effect it had on her body she quickly swung horizontally trying to land a hit on her captain, but he continued dodging by smaller and smaller margins. She expected him to back off and allow her to dash towards him with enough speed that she'd be able to easily land a hit on him but forgot something vital- something that would end in her fatal demise if she didn't notice it fast enough. That thing was very simple: she was fighting Shin. Even if he needed a moment to think things through, if he sees an opening he's going to charge for it tactics or not, and so they both charged at each other once more but this time at full force. Kyou Kai took the brunt of it but landed her steps perfectly, giving her balance once more. She was somewhat out of breath and Shin was as well, just not to the extent as the girl was. For Shin to last this long was an achievement, at least.

Neither faltered; again and again, they kept at it. Kyou Kai was unimaginably skilled, but a battle fought too long would tire her all too quickly.

Again they lunged towards one another but this time an unprecedented occurrence took place.

The general of the Hi Shin Unit, still recovering from the last battle's injury on his leg (ankle, rather), took an abnormal step forwards and there it happened: how hilarious it was to his soldiers. Down he came like a bird swooping for its next meal, only this time the only thing Shin would be eating is dirt... or so it appeared at first. The quick thinker she was, no one expected Kyou Kai to become too vulnerable at that moment, but the gods must've dictated it beyond the heavens and the reaches of the earthly world and its inhabitants. The girl realized all too late about what was happening to her longtime comrade as he stumbled over like a walloping drunk. He had let go of his sword and threw it off to the side as to not accidentally impale himself or Kyou Kai, and as she tried to back up and escape the male's bodily presence above her, towering as she stumbled backward, she also threw her sword off.

Kyou Kai appeared to be pinned on the ground under Shin. She heard a soft "ouch" come from him and noticed the positioning of his hands; he was careful not to accidentally land upon one of her limbs or somehow tumble down and crush her. His defined muscles kept him from falling over, and looking at them made the girl reminisce to a few years ago when Shin's goals were nothing more than pipe dreams, and yet here he was, commander of a famous army. He was more than a kid with dreams, he was an achiever. The rate at which he improves is exponential and that at which he learns is impossibly fast, the reason she stayed with him was that it was fun... life never stayed the same, it was always changing for better when she was around him.

"You alright, Kyou Kai?" He asked as he stared into the vast ocean greenery trapped within the imprisonment of her beautiful eyes. That irreplaceable grin was still fixated on his face as if it were permanent; sometimes it might falter but it was like an eternal flame.

Some of the soldiers started to snicker. "The captain can't win fairly, so he has to resort to stealing the Hi Shin Princess's heart! Another stunning tactic created by the Great Shin!" Shouted one. Other soldiers joined the loud one and started to joke and tease to their heart's content.

"Eh!? You guys... I could've won; let me kick your asses, I'll teach you!" Shin retorted to their playful mocking. He pushed himself up and grabbed his sword, placing it back on his rear side.

Kyou Kai, slightly flustered at some of the wisecrack remarks, sat up and covered her face with her scarf per usual. She then reached for her own sword, picked it up, and placed it back in its sheath. Bashfully, she then stood up and started to walk out towards the forest, avoiding the gazes of many whose eyes pierced into the thick clothes she wore, penetrating her heart with emotions she would rather have not felt at the moment.

"Shin, the warrior maiden is escaping your clutches, chase after her! It is your calling!" Chanted the first soldier that had started to tease them. This, however, instigated Kyou Kai to move at a faster pace than before.

Shin called out to her, aware of this, but his efforts were futile; she simply walked off, hiding her embarrassed face. No one knew where she was going or when she would return, but the captain had an idea. But the most curious inquiry was: why had their joking upset her, or rather, had they upset her at all?

Unless of course... it meant that. That couldn't be possible. But the impossibility couldn't be guaranteed, after all, it would explain some of her behavior; the face she had, the smallest visible tint of pink as she seemingly perturbed girl stormed off. But for such a complex and mysterious girl, a powerful and stoic one at that, such embarrassment couldn't be so simple as being pushed onto the ground by a member of the opposite sex. As mature as she looked, she, too, was no more than an adolescent- perhaps it was more possible than previously thought. That light red that marked her face was complemented by a happy smile. A jovial, almost childlike aura emanated off of her. The certain satisfaction she felt could be described as a state of divine bliss.

Shin could be ignorant and arrogant at times, but through the years of serving the State of Qin as one of its most prominent underdog generals, he'd developed a sense of maturity that coincided with his childish attitude. He wasn't oblivious to people's feelings, mostly, he just wasn't good at dealing with them. Kyou Kai was his friend and one of his many partners in crime, of course, he was obliged to try and understand what it was she wanted... whatever that thing was, anyways. It would have to wait until a later time; trying to understand women was such a pain.

A leaf flows within the beautiful yet terrifying river witnessing all that there is to love, yet also all that there is to hate. White clouds and blue skies; monstrous storms and battlegrounds of survival. The life that re-envelops the scenery that has been transformed because of gruesome wars... a symbol of hope. The evils that continuously cultivate in the world try to stop the leaf from proceeding, but its body and soul are kept together throughout the hardships; it watches the magnificent blossoms bloom and the fish who elegantly pierce through warm, blue water. At some point the river will end -past the Delta, past the isthmuses, past the inland archipelagos- a lake will devour the leaf and the biotic matter will become one with it. Forever it will linger as part of the body of water as it slowly deteriorates; the disintegration happens peacefully and calmly. For the rest of its remaining lifetime, it shall float about, observing all that is new and old. No regrets- it was to lay here, to lay dormant in a place such as this, that the leaf traversed through the hardships.

It was raining. Both large and small droplets of water rained down in a cold storm; a barrage of precipitation ruining the eye's perception of the environment. The rain was unyielding. A God's calls, thunder, and lightning established his position as the man who reigns over all beings below the intangible, unearthly sky. His minions pouring the water from his dominion; a pouring of a flood with the mists of the heavens. None challenged the deity's furious behavior as he watched over the earth from his castle above the ground, otherwise, they would be struck by his thunderous fury. His rage stretched beyond the edge of the horizon; a lonesome-grey, his color of choice, plagued all. Plunging into the greenery and brown, the droplets fall.

The supernatural being's page turned; his outrage was no longer that of anger, but that of sorrow, a rain that would not last 'till the morrow. Lament filled him, and subsiding of the blistering cold began. Incessant as it had first begun, the unrelenting sounds of water pounding on the muddy floor.

Rainbows formed in the distance; sunlight peeking through gaps in the clouds mixing with the after-shower mist. The green pigmentation of plants enhanced by the dew residue. Long overdue was the sound of silence, yet forgetful none were of the silence that brought no sound. And yet the silence was disturbed by the sounds of chirping birds and insects awakening from their hour's hibernation from the rain. Nature took over the quietness. Rather than irritate those who listened, it gave an even more relaxing state of mind that the silence which hung over the skies only moments ago.

Shin's isolated walk from the rest of the group abruptly ended as soon as he came across a tall, brown, cylindrical, and seemingly abandoned watchtower. He entered it with the thought of inspecting the structure, but inside was neither what he expected nor what he didn't expect. He hadn't expected Kyou Kai to be huddled up by herself within the circular base of the spire, yet he expected her to be at a place like this all alone. She shivered in her cold sleep even though the number of layers she wore should have prevented such a reaction to the weather. There was no location for a fire to be made, neither was their other clothes to cover up with. The boy, as naturally warm-hearted as he was, acted as a fireplace on his own. Avoiding the liquid stones which beat down on the solid stones, Shin's body temperature was above the normality for a person in weather like this. Even involuntarily he was an overachiever; it's feasible that even in death the fledgling may die like no other. Just like Ou Ki, just like Hyou.

Still wearing his unfashionable, grey armor, the boy decided to take it all off. After undoing the knots and pieces that kept it together, he carefully set it near the center of the circular room that was no more than 30 feet in diameter. He then reached for his sword and sheath and unequipped both from his body, discarding them next to his armor.

His body moved towards the sleeping girl. Slowly he sat next to her, avoiding any unnecessary touches that could wake her up. This was a trivial movement as he'd find out within the next few moments. Shin's pupils directed themselves towards Kyou Kai's face. Her scarf covered the bottom portion and her headband did the same to her hair. What he watched was neither of those things- instead his attention was focused on her closed eyes.

As far as Shin knew, he had never recalled her eyelashes to be as feminine as they were now; nor was her skin as appealingly soft as it looked now. Soft, slow breaths accompanied by the small trembling from the cold continued to escape from her body.

His left arm drifted towards her and firmly grasped the girl's left shoulder as the two lay on the wall of the tower. Efficiently, but not slowly, did he pull her into his arms. A former Chou Yuu assassin not being roused from sleep by such motions was stunning. Kyou Kai's small body easily fit in between his arms and chest and for that reason, he brought her even closer to him. By the time Shin had stopped shuffling, Kyou Kai's head lay upon the general's chest in a sideways sleeping position. Her right shoulder pressed up against his chest as well as her left was hugged by the boy's complimentary arm; his right hand placed tenderly upon her waist, holding her steady.

"Kyou Kai, you seem to have let your guard down. What kind of a lieutenant of the Hi Shin lets their guard down?" He mumbled to himself.

Her face shuffled as it found a comfortable position to rest. As it finally found the slightest smile it could create, her limp arm brought itself closer to the main body and her legs started to faintly curl up.

Staring down at the petite body snuggling on, Shin's his eyes glistened with a realization. His muscles contracted in a way that was not hard, but gentle, protective, and almost poignant. This feeling... this feeling it... a white bird swooping down in a background of glimmering white and blue ocean; the chromatic hazy, purple, red, and grey clouds lighting the ground with what the sun could not reach; a vast horizon in the distance... was that the best description Shin could come up with? He'd never seen the ocean, but one needn't see it to imagine its beauty. Hyou, once, described it to him long ago, and so now it was his turn to describe it to someone.

This was his life. What gave Shin the will to move forward -what gave him determination- was not Ou Ki. It was not the Zhou or the Wu or any of the other states. It was not Ei Sei nor was it the Hi Shin. Qin, Hyou, the Hi Shin- they're just coincidences. Shin was never meant to be leading an army of the Qin, he was a peasant servant after all. His dream with Hyou was nothing more than a dream; deep down they never actually imagined the opportunity would come for low-class plebeians like them. Ou Ki was a driving factor for becoming stronger, not because it was a will, but because the great general's strength was an inspiration. Why? Few people have been with Shin since that day with the Zhou Army. Many of his friends have died and many continue dying in the tragic wars. His comrades from the village and even the ones who he met along the way. Through and through, they all looked up to him as a general, as a leader, as an idol of worship. Even his direct subordinates, So Sui and En, saw him as a much bigger man than he really was (although this was good). Out of all of the soldiers within the army, only one of them would associate themselves with him on an equal level. Only one of them saw him as Shin rather than the 1000-Man General Shin or a man from the countryside village.

Kyou Kai was always there when he needed her. When he fought with the superiors, she sided with him. When he was put into confinement for fighting a higher up, she'd stay with him. When he had problems she listened and vice versa. When one needed the other the second could always be counted on by the first. Mutualism- a type of symbiotic relationship between animals. Two beasts, indeed, could have such a relationship.

But what he harbored was not the idea of helping the girl to benefit from doing so, rather, it was a sort of romantic feeling. A moron who didn't know the first thing about love had been feeling it without even realizing it. A total dimwit.

Slowly he closed his eyes. Drifting into a sleep, Shin felt at peace. A state of bliss that could not be described in words but in feeling alone. The cold, ubiquitous air around the two slowly faded as the sun began to shower the land with a water made of light.

Nerves trigger reactions; a small spark within them travels through the body and to the brain where it then interprets what is going on in the beautiful world or hellish battleground that it finds itself immersed in. This feeling was not limited to physical encounters; even emotions could initiate these feelings of pain, sorrow, and good feelings that the entirety of the body and soul would feel.

The young girl that slept peacefully in the graceful arms of the larger general began to awake. A warmth surrounding her body was confusing, at first, until her eyes started to take a peak, widening slowly as to take in the light and adjust to the evening orange the sun above the heavens was showering the world with. The tingling sensation she felt all around her body made her head perk up to try and view all of what was going on. This presence was... nothing she had ever experienced before. As her eyes began to reveal the jade irises they contained, the girl's senses were still uncoordinated and slowly reorganizing themselves. Finally, the predicament she was in came to be realized: her captain, her friend, had his arms coiled around her small waist with her head pressed up against his chest; her arms snuggled between his and her chest in a comfortable position. Her mind panicked as the boy triggered many emotions. Elation, vexation, and alarm were all present in her body for no more than a few mere seconds. As a soldier, she couldn't let something like this fluster her that much. No, no, no- yes, she was a soldier, nothing more. So then why did everything else seem to disagree? Sitting here with him was, perhaps, the most pleasurable thing in the world. Nothing else could affect her in such a way like this.

But maybe it wasn't so bad. For a girl who grew up in a tribe of assassins and was forced to witness the corpse of her decapitated sister's head, this couldn't be that bad, right? Everyone needs some sort of happiness every now and then... right? Such a life that was previously filled with tragedy no longer needed to heed the words of vengeance or revenge. Of course, the idea of doing so ate away at Kyou Kai's livelihood, now all she wanted was to stay here with him in an everlasting embrace where the call to war and duty as leaders of an army did not affect either person. Such a pipe dream is defined as so- impossible, no matter the circumstances. Kyou Kai and Shin of the Hi Shin were venerable individuals well-known throughout the lands, enjoying what could be enjoyed here and now was the best option.

For the first time in a long time, the former assassin gleefully smiled without restraint. This was the boy she wanted to love. If only admitting something like that to his face was that easy, but for the time being, now was good, now was okay.

That is until her movements caused his reaction. Still on guard, being in the middle of an empty-of-human-life forest and all, Shin instinctively pinned the intruder, also known as Kyou Kai, onto the ground. The girl was startled and put one hand above her face and the other one near her abdomen, and her legs clenched together in an awkward attempt to defend herself from what could not be defended against.

Shin's eyes stared into hers. Her lips were partially opened as she took deep intakes of air in an attempt to calm herself from the adrenaline of Shin's quick movements. The small white glares in the girl's eyes twinkled like stars in the eyes of Shin. He needn't think about what his first words to Kyou Kai would be because of course, it's going to be an apologetic statement and some sarcastic remark.

Unexpectedly, what came out of his mouth, what was enunciated and dictated with the tongue, the teeth, and the throat was something much different. It was partially fact, partially because of Shin's brain struggling to wake all the way up- whatever the reason, it changed nothing.

"So even you can make cute faces once in a while," Shin said, coyly turning his head to the right as to not look at the captivating eyes of the girl below him.

Her lips were slightly parted but, in her mind, it felt agape, but all she could do was stare at him in silence.

The two exchanged glances a few times trying to get a look at one another but at the same time attempting to avoid eye contact. Shin never really... thought about what he would do in an event like this occurring. Cuddling Kyou Kai just a minute or two ago was just an impulse, he supposed, so he didn't have a proper, logical reason for doing it- much less to someone such as the mighty lieutenant Kyou Kai of the Hi Shin. How the hell was he supposed to explain this situation to her?

The boy tried to laugh off his previous comment, but the only sound he could muster up and produce was a forced chuckle. After another moment of thought, he continued by brushing off his embarrassing utterance with a tangent question to which he already knew the answer to. "Sorry, did I startle you?" He asked, finally being able to organize his messy thoughts into a coherent sentence without the mindless grins he always wore as a trademark.

"That's not fair..." the girl mouthed to herself without diction, making sure Shin didn't understand her physical expression of her current mood. "I- I'm fine."

The stutter.

Adorable.

"That's not fair..." Shin thought to himself.

"Could... you get off me... please?"

A troubled but relaxed and endearing illustration.

Could it become anymore bewitching?

"Uh, yeah, hold on," Shin said as he took his hands and pushed himself up, first with his hands, then with his legs, and then the hands using the legs as support beams.

Standing as tall as the great palace in the capital of Qin did, Shin held his hand out to help his comrade.

The flapping of white bird's wings as they soared through the colorless air created strong wind currents. The millions of them swarmed the heavens and blocked the view of the heavenly white pieces of cotton that littered the sky. A looming shadow surrounding everything with only a small girl dressed in white, left alone, to witness everything as it was devoured by the darkness created by the flying beasts. She sat, compulsively, isolated from the world around her; the sea of tears crying out to her, continuously, as it flowed. She looked down, trying to hide from the dark, fantastical world she had been placed in. Her arms coiled around her legs tightly; her head found itself in between her lower limbs. As if the sea of flowing despondency and melancholia was not enough for the unsmiling world, she, herself, shed droplets of water from her eyes. Her teardrops slowly slid down her sad face and formed a saltwater ocean at the bottom of her chin. It was much smaller than the sea of despair but was much more powerful than it. As they clung to her face, slowly they merged and formed a bigger droplet until finally, it fell down into the sea below her. A single, tiny drop which engulfed the ground.

But the sound of fluttering feathers and the pestering of chirping ceased. Reflexively, the female noticed this and raised her head with such speed that it rivaled that of the birds who had disappeared. Bright- much too bright to see clearly, she understood. Her teary eyes squinted as they readjusted to the intense light of the environment. Although blinded by a sharp white, she noticed a parting within the sea that, at one time, had surrounded her. Her green eyes shut closed to allow her pupils to dilate and adapt faster. When she opened her eyes she noticed that the burning sensation caused by the sun was gone, and was instead replaced by a lambent illumination. It was as though she had been transported to another world.

Small groups of white birds pierced the horizons and the azure sky above the girl. Enigmatic blues, faint sea greens, and shades of greys and whites composed their melody as they made up the scenery around her. There was no sun, but everything was irradiated perfectly. It was then that the star, the one which lit up her world, appeared.

Directly beside the crouching female stood a man wearing tarnished, blue clothes and a sword that rested upon his back. Her face was peering upwards and looking at his. What she found was a heartwarming smile accompanied by a confident gaze that looked only forwards. She stood up to see him and realized that her feet were planted on a reflecting liquid that she did not sink into.

Although foreign, it brought more tears to her eyes; these created by happiness. As it flowed down her cheek, the boy brought his hand up and briskly wiped it away with his thumb. The water which had been transported from cheek to thumb dropped to the ground and they watched as it formed into a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of vibrant rainbows that once again began to transform the world.

That tear had become a biological singularity as it mixed with the semi-transparent waters the two bodies stood on. A burst of colors formed and began attacking one another in a war of attrition for dominance. Flowers began to sprout from a ground that, only a second ago, didn't exist; all life had surpassed the primary succession of natural selection in the blink of an eye. Petals were birthed from green stems and dirt miraculously appeared from thin air. The petals bloomed one by one and created a scenic image of green and purple that had completely taken over the once reflective, unnatural ground.

She reached out.

Kyou Kai reached for Shin's hand and grasped it firmly. He pulled her up from her lying position; as she was dragged in an upwards direction she pulled herself forwards and glided towards the benevolent boy. Entranced with the small girl's maestoso body as it leisurely drifted to him like a leaf in a river, Shin could only think about Kyou Kai's beauty; it resembled any other time she danced on the battlefield like a bright star. The white clothes that had become her signature uniform flailing about decorously and the hand movements that even he could not replicate on his best of days.

The fingers on her right hand grabbed and tugged on the boy's clothing; the muscles within her digits held on for dear life as if any changes in her grasp would end with him leaving her, floating into a distant and vast unknown. A complimentary hand, her left, grabbed the collar of his blue, ragged shirt and pulled him down to her.

It wasn't impulsive.

"You're too tall," she mouthed.

It was a permanent oath that was years in the making.

Kyou Kai's fingers contracted in a nervous tension as her and Shin's faces slowly approached each other. The fine details on one another's faces become as apparent as the tree's regal green. Kyou Kai looked into Shin's eyes; they were as stoic as ever, even in a situation where she could tell he was surprised like now. As he looked into hers, however, he saw a pétillant river. A slight pond of mousseux liquid forming the very edge of the bottom of her eyes. Neither blinked and time, as it was, moved very slow.

And then the birds returned; enigmatic colors and bright pigments too. The white beings that took flight in the air, a space much closer to the Heavens than the human's feeble Earth. They surrounded the area much like they had when the young girl was crying alone, but now was different- the birds allowed for gaps to form where yellow rays of the sun poured through and onto the earth. Living and nonliving life began to glow a brilliant golden hue that added to the splendor colors that already made up everything: from the calm blues of water to the raging reds of insects and flowers. It lasted for a split second before vanishing away.

White.

Two bodies and…

White.

A body enlightened by the presence of the other and vice versa.

Deep within each other's embrace, both physically and mentally, neither could look away. All of the outside world's properties had been shut out, there was no need for it.

It would be hard to admit such happiness was possible for Kyou Kai outside of the lucid dreams that rarely occurred. Dreams where revenge was escapable, the ones where Shin was waiting for her to return as he sat on top of a strong steed commanding an army from a nostalgic hillside. Those among the Hi Shin reaching towards him, admiring him like he did Ou Ki.

That was the dream. It wasn't really that much different from the current reality, after all, their home lay not within the confinements of the State of Qin or within the hells of the battlefield, but with each other. It is a home they live in to protect the home they were born in and the home many more will be born within.

Kyou Kai's soft, pink lips connected with the absent-minded Shin's. Unexpected as it was, there was no resistance. For the first time in a long while, Kyou Kai willingly let her guard down. Her composure broke down as she trembled in fear. She never thought about how he would feel about this or the consequences that lay ahead but… Kyou Kai's feelings were as genuine as a bar of gold. Her eyes shut.

It was bold and assertive, just like her. Shin did not back down, and his eyes closed as well. He neither backed away nor pushed her away. This… wasn't so bad, was it? It was a tender and awkward kiss, but that was expected. They were professional warriors who were amateur in most forms of love like this. Shin held her tighter and it was almost as though their lips had become sealed with a lock as they kissed.

Noticing the older boy's affectionate response she broke away from what the two were sharing. Shin opened his eyes and saw the tears in Kyou Kai's eyes. As inexperienced with love as he was, he was not oblivious to these kinds of things. This time Shin's digits intertwined with the girl's. Her body pressed up against his and the dam broke. Out came the tsunami of salt and water.

A bird no longer caged within iron bars of solitude she let everything out. Her wings flapped and the bird flew yonder the ocean blue, past the great mountains, far beyond the great plains. But the bird did not fly alone. It neither flew with another or by itself; next to it soared a graceful spirit of transparent white.

Kyou Kai's eyes closed in a forceful manner as she remembered Kyou Shou and her killer, Yuu Ren. Kyou Shou smiled as she sat on top of a mountain with an orange coloring the entirety of the background behind her.

It was then that she began to accept the fact… the fact that clinging to such childish things as revenge is a statement of accepting that she was born only to fight and die. But no longer… Kyou Shou died for her sake. It was a pyrrhic victory on her part, but it gave Kyou Kai the will to survive up until she met Shin, where everything began to change. The innocence of youth began to fade as a broader, wider view of the world began to light up in her perspective.

Within the mind of Kyou Kai, she greeted the sister that had died years before. Perhaps all her time up until now was wasteful, it's possible, yes, but without all of this wasted time, it's also possible that the entirety of Kyou Kai's life would have been misspent chasing what may be a pipe dream. Here she was, lieutenant and strategist of one of the fastest rising armies within the State of Qin, and her commander was none other than the person she'd decided to consign to.

Shin… that idiot… he wasn't the smartest or the strongest by far and yet, something about him, made her smile more than anything else in the world. Most of everything he did was quickly planned and without proper thought so maybe he was just another brute. But his empathy for others and willingness to die for the sake of those he cared about transformed a simple rock into a blossoming flower.

Kyou Shou's happy smile slowly faded and the world change back into a myriad of flowers and beautiful colors. In the center of an uncountable number of red roses stood a singular blue bloom.

Kyou Kai bent down, slowly, and brought her finger up to it. Gently she caressed its petals and admired its nostalgic hue. Her index finger coiled around its healthy green stem and, softly, she picked it. Her legs pushed upward as she stood herself up while still staring at the flower. It was hers now, the beautiful flower.

And Shin, whose arms were coiled around the white and red dressed girl as she let out her tears, also decided on something. "Kyou Kai, you're as precious as a flower."

花

Flower