17. Missing Time

They were alone after separating from Mitsuhide and Kiki; it was his idea because really, they could travel a lot faster apart and somehow, he drew the short straw to accompany the prince instead of scouting ahead that the two knights were currently doing. They had been walking in amiable silence until his companion opened his mouth.

"Where are you from?"

That one question that slipped easily from Zen's mouth disoriented the black head for a second as his head came up from where he was washing his face with water from the stream. Droplets slid down his chin and he wiped it away with a flourish of his arm.

"What?"

The prince shifted and flushed in the silence that followed that singular word. Mumbling and casting his eyes away from him, the golden hair boy shuffled away towards the road. "You know what, never mind."

There was another silence in which Obi caught up with his prince, settling his arms behind his head comfortably.

And then a lonely sentence- "I don't know."

And anything else that followed was swallowed up by the looming forest and heavy air.

- Wanted to write about Obi cause he's my favourite in Akagami no Shirayukihime. And he has such a mysterious past that we only glimpsed in the last few chapter and he's such an ambiguous character that I just want to flesh him out and give him so much angst.

- Hope you enjoy it.

- Reviews are much appreciated.