Hira

Deca had finally arrived at his destination. This was it. His destiny quite literally lied before him now. With no thoughts of retreating or returning from where he originated from (if that was even an option at this point), he ventured forth towards the front gate of the magnificent castle. He had a choice to make now. He could either use his skills pertaining to stealth and search for his targets hindquarters or become hired formally by the ruler of this Kingdom as a covert 'bodyguard' for the illustrious princess of this castle. Whether she was aware of this fact or not, the princess of Hira Kingdom was the predestined holder of the Heart Stone of which he shared a unique connection with from the very beginning.

He smirked, which was more or less strange for him. There was always a third option. He had no time for inconveniences. Making careful progress to a specific point where he was out of the guards potential view before a strange metamorphisis began to take place in his body. Before long, his human form was long gone, replaced with that of a fierce dragon. Bounding into the sky and beyond the clouds, the dragon flew over the palace. He lowered himself before he reverted to his human form and landing gracefully on roof. In an amazing display of dexterity, he hung himself off of the ledge and swung himself forward, pushing open the window and landing on the floor. Unbeknownst to Deca, he had just entered the princesses chamber (or room if you will). Brushing his jacket off, he prepared to search the rest of the palace.

Akane's arms were chained by the two guards, she knelt in front of her mother's throne as she was just staring at the ground.
"You will regret this mother!" She cried out.
"The wisest choice if I were you would to let me go, so I wouldn't be a bother for you anymore and we can stop this hide and seek games." She narrowed her eyes.
All of a sudden her eyes turned to her mother, all of her anger at this point was beyond her limit.
"You disgust me." She said with a cold tone, as she spat in front of the throne.
That was the most disrespectful thing that Akane has ever done or could have done. At this point she started to worry wondering if she would get the death penalty instead of the chamber penalty.
She gulped down with nervousness as she was watching her mother's face turn into thousands of shades of red.

Akane turned her head, it was a young male that was offering Ace to make sure Akane was captured, the room felt strangely familiar, like as if he was her child hood friend or they just knew each other forever. She glared at him with anger. The boy was staring at the nervous wreck of Ace, waiting for a reply.
"Who are you? And how did you even get in here?" She yelled out, with a frustrated tone.
Her finger pointed at the young male,
"You must be sick to work for her, sick in the head! I tell you she's pure insanity, you must be as well to desire to ever work for her." Scolding the boy who was completely ignoring her, she looked at Ace who seemed to have a smirk on her face. Akane knew at that point that Ace was going to allow her to be captive under this stranger's rules. She let out a sigh of despair, looking down at the red carpet that was leading towards the throne.
She tried to push the guards off of her but it was pointless.

Akane slowly shook her head to the boy's question while staring at his face, shocked by the fact that he was actually a dragon in human form. Her eyes changed direction, all she did was stare straight forward. She was soaking in all the information she was just informed of. This was giong to be interesting, she isn't the only one who knows about the heart stone. A slight sigh came out, she turned her eyes back to him and calmly said.
"Please, don't call yourself a servant of mine. You're not my slave or some sort, do whatever you please. If you want I'll call you my partner in crime, but not servant." Akane shook her head.

She let out a giggle that turned into a laugh, due to the shock of what just happened.
"I can't believe my mother was ignorant to the fact that you would actually help me instead of locking me up." A smile came to her face, flashbacks of her mother in her head agreeing to let Deca take care of her.

Akane got up from the bed and made a bee line towards Deca, she extended her arm for a handshake.
"Well I guess it's just you and me. You're the only one I can trust." A large grin came on her face.
"So what now?" She curiously asked her new partner, since she has no clue what to expect from now on.

"Please, don't call yourself a servant of mine. You're not my slave or some sort, do whatever you please. If you want I'll call you my partner in crime, but not servant." Deca was initially surprised that she motioned to treat him and her on equal ground rather then forming a typical master-servant relation with one another. He felt a strange feeling within him, something he hadn't experienced. Could it have been happiness? Relief? He couldn't tell, at least not at the moment. All the same, he nodded in acceptance. "Partner..in crime? Alright then." He agreed. He was relieved at the fact that she seemed to take this with semi-stride, making it less tough on him to have to explain every detail, especially knowing the fact that he himself didn't know exactly what had caused these series of events to occur in the first place. Deca set his gaze towards the grand window once more, staring out at the excess land that stretched beyond what his eyes could capture within his sights. He sighed, as if he were trying to recollect himself, before turning back towards the princess.

She laughed with such prevalent confidence that it almost amused him. "I can't believe my mother was ignorant to the fact that you would actually help me instead of locking me up." Akane said, smiling largely. While he didn't show it on the exterior of his face, he was mildly satisfied with the successfulness of his endeavor. "It would be best if your mother, the ruler of this kingdom, did not know my true identity. To you, I am your protector. To her, I am merely your keeper. Remember this." He reminded of the princess, making sure to let her know that this secret was meant to be kept between the two of them exclusively. His eyes slightly widened when she quickly rushed towards him, extending her arm outward towards him for a formal handshake. While he didn't have a clue as to what the gesture was meant to signify, he figured that copying the action would suffice. He extended his arm outwards towards her, the two meeting in the middle as he grasped her hand. With one soft shake, he released.

"So what now?" The girl asked. Now that was a question that he knew the answer to. He shifted his gaze towards the door for a moment, then back to her. "The purpose of my existence is to protect you from harm. The stone within you, the one from which I came from, is of great importance. Many people will want the stone's power for their own selfish ideals. For as long as this human form lasts, I will keep you and the stone out of the hands of those people. He said the entire sentence without taking a single, noticeable breath and with a solid tone. "What we do now, Ma--Partner, is up to you. Your mother had forbidden from leaving the palace...of course, dragons born of the stone's power, such as myself, are skilled in the art of stealth. It is your choice to make." He concluded, leaving the choice of how to proceed forward to her. At least for this one instance, that is.

A part of him would slightly rather stay, though. He couldn't risk ruining the trust he had acquired of Ace.

Akane thought about it for a bit, they didn't have any excuse to leave the castle. It wasn't like they were in danger or anything. She thought they'll both might as well be safe in the castle.
"I don't see any point in leaving the castle Deca, were both safe here. It's not like we're being chased or anything." She laughed.
She looked around her room and realized that she was suppose to stay in the chambers yet again her room was in the other wing of the castle, the wing her mother never visited.
"We'll I guess we're room mates now. You can sleep on the bed, I can have the floor. I honestly insist. I just hope you don't snore." Akane's serious face turned into a laugh.
"We just need to stay a bit quiet." She added, shocked that she admitted she had to be quiet.

An idea popped in Akane's head. She grabbed Deca's hand and stormed out of her room.
"Today you're getting a tour of the castle by yours truly." She laughed looking straight forward at the corridor. The castle was quite feminine, due to the fact that there hasn't been a male ruler in years. Ever since Akane's father's presence no longer existed, her mother had a complete make over for the castle. Wondering around for a while she still had his grip in her hands. She stopped and popped her head trough the throne room's door. Surprisingly her mother wasn't there.
Akane turned her head to Deca. "Is there any specific room you want to see up close?"

Akane smiled, and nodded her head. "Alright dining room it is, then chambers and the library." She tightened her grip to his hand and started pacing as fast as she could in the hallway, forcing Deca to run. Before they turned left in the hallway she stopped unexpectedly which caused the two to collide. "Ow. Sorry that's my fault." Akane said as she was looking left to right of the corridors, surprisingly there were no guards. Akane thought to herself how easy of a job these guards have. She lead the way turning left in the hallway, her pace turned into a fast run. She almost lost Deca's grip but she caught it and hold it tight.

Once they got to the royal dining room she slowly opened the door and the two of them walked in, there was no one there.
"The coast is clear, we can talk loud now!" She said shouted in a challenging loud voice. Akane let out a laugh.
"Oh I'm sorry." Noticing that she was squeezing his hand she let go. Akane hasn't been in the royal dining room for ages, she felt like she was in another castle. She walked by the empty table sliding her hand on the smooth wood. "It's been forever since I ate in this room." The royal dining room was extremely large and wide, a long table with about fifty or more chairs was in the center, and in the front of the table was another small royal throne. The floor was full of marble, and the sides had columns made of marble, and the walls were covered with flags of the Hira Kingdom.

Akane sighed, a sudden growl entered the room. She laughed. "Are you hungry? Maybe we can sneak in the kitchen and get some food?"

Akane walked up slowly to the bars that were separating the two and grabbed them, letting out a sigh of despair. "I'm really sorry Deca, I swear to you this never happened before." She shook her head. "Someone will probably come down and check up on us, so please try to put on an act when they do come." Akane had a ticked off look on her face. "Please don't be mad, I really didn't know we'd get in trouble. As for the guy..well he deserved it for working for my.." She gagged to the up coming word. "Mother." A small giggle came out, remembering the guard that was knocked cold on the floor. "You must admit, it was funny how he fell on the floor, from a frying pan." Akane tried to brighten up the atmosphere from the grotesque chamber.

Akane turned her head, as her hands were still clutched to the bars. She was staring at the stair case. "I wonder if a guard is coming. If they won't be here in an hour we're leaving." Her tone turned serious.

A short pause entered the room."Wait..I hear someone, coming."

It was her mother Ace, this would be interesting. Ace touched her face mocking her, she slapped her had when she pinched her cheeks. Afterwards she listened to the hundreds of questions she was about to ask Deca. Akane had her fingers crossed, hoping that Deca wouldn't mess up.

Akane almost barfed when she heard her mother trying to be seductive with a younger male, especially a guy her age. Akane sighed and rolled her eyes. After that, the ten hour speech was finally over, Ace decided to leave. Akane smiled and gently pulled the bars and got out of the cell, she slowly pulled the bars towards her to lock the cell. "Nice job." She said complimenting the dragon. "What do you do in your free time act?" She laughed to her cheesy joke. Akane usually made cheesy jokes, that she would usually laugh to by herself.

Akane grabbed the dragon's human like claws and guided him up the stairs, without any rush this time since they weren't being chased. "Watch your step." She said pointing at one of the stone step that had a crack on it. Akane looked ahead of her, climbing up the chamber's steps. It was like a tunnel made of stone, with torches on the side, it made you want to shiver, she felt bad for all the innocent people that were ever sent here. Finally she opened the door and they got to the royal hall way. Akane let out a sigh of gratefulness. "I'm glad I didn't actually have to live down there. So thank you. Deca." she said turnin to him bowing down.

As she was guiding the way from the hall way she was that night fall approached the Hira kingdom, the orange sun was gone. Walking down the hall way, she heard voices in the thrown room. Akane quickly paced a bit faster to see what was going on. It was Ace, talking to a man. Who was he? He seemed to be suspicious. Akane shrugged her shoulders and looked at Deca. "I don't think we need to worry about that man, I mean it's the middle of the night. Maybe he's just a peasant?" A yawn louder than a dragon's roar came out of Akane. She rubbed her eyes with her one hand, and started squinting after wards. "I'm so tired.." She said walking slugishly towards her room. As they finally reached the corridor of the bedrooms, she ran ahead of Deca, and ran into her room. Akane crashed on the floor and was half asleep, when Deca came in she slowly waved her hand up, "You sleep on there.." She said pointing to the bed with an exhausted tone, already curled up on the floor, Akane blacked out.

Akane blinked twice, "Good morning Deca." She said smiling, Akane turned her head and stared down at the Hira kingdom. It was quite beautiful in the morning, the sky was a soft orange and pink in the early mornings, the Princess let out a sigh enjoying the view from the top of the roof which seemed to be the highest point of the entire Kingdom, since it was placed on a mountain. "Have any good dreams?" She asked him, as she was still staring at the view. Waiting for a reply she laid down on her back, covering her mouth as she yawned, still a tired from the long day they had yesterday.

The girl's eyes looked like as if they were closed, she rubbed her eyes. "It's so early.." She murmured. The orange sun was starting to rise, spreading more light and heat upon the Hira kingdom and the entire Yalena. Akane covered her face with her arm avoiding the sunlight, "Did you have a good sleep up here?" She paused for a moment and realized the scenery. I never thought in a million years that I would be sitting on a roof this early in the morning, especially with a dragon." She smirked.

The Princess thought to herself about how everything changed in the amount of one day. She was curious to find out what else was planned for the two in the distant future, hopefully it will be full of adventure and fun. Akane randomly turned her head to Deca and blurted out. "I'm glad we met." Turning her head back upon the scenery all nonchalant.