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Hot tears were streaming down rosy colored cheeks, and little choked sobs were echoed in the endless sea of plants. Blood slid slick down from the eighth imperial princess’s knee as Kougyoku cradled it to her chest, wincing from pain.
"A-ah…" she made another choked noise and shut her eyes tight, feeling the tears that stuck to her lashes slide free down her face.
After holing herself up in her room for days, she had finally decided she needed a breath of fresh air and ventured far out into the Kou palace’s gardens, only to trip over her much too long robes and skin her knee badly. The state of her robes were in shreds and her knee wasn’t faring much better. It throbbed from pain, and she was shaking from shock. She moped at her damp cheeks with her sleeve, wiping away at the stray pink strands of hair that stuck to her tear tracks. She felt hot, messy, and miserable. She was a few years too young to have an assistant, and because of her parentage, her status wasn’t that high compared to the rest of her siblings so it would probably take a while before anyone realized that she was missing.
"Oi."
Letting out a small squeak, Kougyoku jumped up, jolting her knee and letting out a whimper. Too preoccupied with her pain, she hadn’t even noticed the small, dark figure lounging in the trees above her, nibbling on a peach.
"God, shut up." The young boy drawled out rudely, hopping down gracefully from his perch. He landed much too quietly for the height he fell, leading Kougyoku to believe he had used magic of some sort. Casually, he tossed the peach pit over his shoulder and into a bush. The young boy sneered, “You’re so fucking loud I can’t think."
The princess’s pink eyes widened in shock, resembling a wounded puppy’s. The language he used was crude and made her wince, but the way he said it to her cut like knives. It was obvious he had a high status, much above hers, but he actually rubbed it in her face.
"I-I’m sorry…" She whispered shakily, sounding broken, timid, and weak. She sniffled, drawing her body tighter together.
His blood red eyes grazed over her current state and he gave a small smirk, crouching down beside her. His long hair was shiny and raven black, the sun reflecting off of it giving it the likeness of fresh ink. For a distracted moment, Kougyoku felt the intense urge to touch it, to see if it felt as silky as it looked.
"So, how did you manage to do this?" he murmured, amused, gesturing towards her bloody knee.
Even if she had no status compared to this boy, she felt annoyance settle in the pit of her stomach at how rude he was being. He just stood there making fun of her while she was injured. Wasn’t he going to help her?
"I t-tripped…" she sniffed, hating how she stuttered. The tears had mostly stopped, her face felt sticky, and she felt hot in her robes, even with the cool, uncomfortable draft wafting in, chilling the stains on her cheeks.
"Good job." He smirked, standing up again and making his way back to the tree. Kougyoku’s mouth dropped open in shock.
"W-wait..! Aren’t you going t-to help me..?" She asked, wide eyes trailing after his form amid the branches.
His reply was a laugh. “I have better things to do with my time."
She watched, aghast, as he jumped off gracefully from tree to tree until he was out of sight. She felt angry and betrayed. But mostly she was curious… she would often see this young boy, who looked around her age, walking around the palace. This was the first time she had seen him alone. He usually had much taller men in black robes surrounding him, catering to his every need and giving him luxurious things. She had never spoken to him, only stolen small timid glances which he returned with curiosity.
But still, she never took him to be completely rude.
"P-princess!"
The sudden exclamation made her jump, and she twisted around to see one of the servants standing there with wide eyes.
"Oh my goodness, what happened to you, child?!"
They carried her back to the palace, bridal style, and she wiped away her tear tracks while trying to straighten up her look. While she fussed over her appearance, she looked back to the garden only to catch a flash of blood red and a long raven braid in the trees.
She paused in her ministrations and looked after the boy in pure awe. He’s back..? Does that mean he…helped me..?
Kougyoku walked through the hallways, back to her room, all patched up with new robes. She was so lost in thought that she almost missed the boy sitting on the railing, who was watching her closely with his red eyes. He made no expression as he watched her.
She paused once she caught sight of him, hesitating a moment, before padding a tiny bit closer and bowing to him. She mustered up the courage to speak.
"Th-thank you for helping me out earlier today."
She stayed bowed until she heard him snicker.
"Who says I helped you?"
His voice was taunting and rude but Kougyoku was certain that that was only a front he put up. She slowly straightened up again and walked closer, shifting her sleeves upwards to cover part of her face.
"But…I had only been found after you saw me." She reasoned hopefully.
The boy looked at her carefully before making a show of rolling his eyes dramatically. “Ha! They would have found you eventually, you’re pretty hard to miss."
There was a silent moment where he seemed to realize what he just said. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he made a ‘tch’ noise and looked away.
Kougyoku’s cheeks flushed red. What was that supposed to mean? She was unsure if that was a compliment or an insult, but the from the way he was reacting she was leaning towards compliment. Straining to find something else to say, it suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea what this boy’s name was.
After another pause, she finally asked. “What’s…your name?"
Her question the boy by surprise and he slowly brought his gaze back on her. It took him a moment to register her question.
"It’s Judar."
And before she had the chance to reply, he slid off the rail and walked away.
The next day Kougyoku was walking in the halls, trailing around aimlessly. Her mind was in the clouds, training on a certain boy with red eyes and raven hair.
It was when she was thinking about him that someone had come up behind her and clapped their hands on her shoulders.
Kougyoku wasn’t exactly quiet when she screamed. She spun around quickly, catching the tail end of a braid.
"Wh…why did you do that?!" She rounded on him in anger, but stopped short when she saw him genuinely laughing. Her heart fluttered in surprise and she couldn’t do anything other than stare in awe. He was beautiful while laughing. This was the most emotion she had ever seen him express, and it was fascinating to her.
"Try and catch me if you can, old hag!" he taunted through his giggles, shoving her aside and taking off down the hallways, long braid waving after him.
"H-hey! I’m not an old hag!!" Kougyoku felt aghast once again at his actions, but she’d never once in her life had a friend, and for some reason she felt a special connection towards this boy.
And because of that reason, she gathered up the bottom of her robes and took off after him. She was fully aware that she wasn’t the best runner and didn’t have much agility, but none of that mattered. For the first time in her life, Kougyoku felt as if she found a friend.