The Capital of Clarines was abundant and full of life. Every street and every person seemed to be bursting with life. No matter how often I came here I always found the sight beautiful. The mountains had a feeling of peace with its beauty. Clarines had a sense of madness and business in its beauty. The air wasn't nearly as fresh as smoke clouds rose from the smithery and the bakeries. Still, I glanced over at Kazu to see the way his eyes sparkled.

The city would be good for him.

"Alright, let's head to castle grounds." I gripped the reigns of Anri knowing that getting to the castle on a horse would take a decent amount of time. Thankfully, the castle grounds had a stable where the horses could stay and they could travel by foot in the towns. It was too busy for horses.

"We will have to present ourselves to the crown prince before you can go explore." I turned to Kazu looking at him with a sympathetic smile. While I was sure that he would rather do anything else he needed a castle badge. Then he could go in and out at his leisure instead of having to stay with me.

"Do we have to?" The boy whined leaning his head back in exasperation. When he locked his eyes once more with her he rolled his eyes, "Okay, Okay."

"My own castle badge should have enough pull to get you in to meet with the Crown Prince." However, I could not promise him that the Crown Prince wouldn't send me out to talk to him personally. I was not positive though and could certainly be wrong. The Crown Prince was just as unpredictable as he was stubborn.

"So then, you've met the Crown Prince before?" Kazu peered towards me with an unasked question in his eyes. 'Was this prince the reason why you dislike all royalty so much?'

"I've only met him a couple of times, so you may not want to take my words to heart. He's what you would expect from nobility, however he is by far one of the better ones in my personal opinion." I spoke looking ahead as the castle grounds finally came into view. I took out my castle badge which was a a brilliant blue color.

The Castle Badges had a color code to them that gave the guards knowledge of the clearance level of the individual.

Red was for those who worked within the castle grounds that relied on intellectual or a skill of some sort. Green were for the individuals who were in service to the crown such as the guards. Blue were for those who were guests to the Crown, such as other nobility from nearby nations. Yellow were for the nobility themselves, however the had a silver plated if they were lesser lords and gold plated if they were royalty.

I could not guarantee that my blue badge would be high enough to warrant bringing a guest into the castle grounds. Should the guards not allow Kazu in then I would simply have to talk to the Crown Prince himself and ask him to allow him in. I was not sure if they would give him a blue badge though. That would be a lot of power for someone who was my guest and not theirs.

"Halt!" The guards spoke forcefully and we slowly came to a stop in front of them. Before they could get a word out I held out my badge to them.

"My name is Raiyama Mirayuki." I spoke with my voice hard as steel saying the name my father had bestowed upon me. Raiyama was what my father had decided to become our surname instead of the name his father had held. The Rai was part of the word Raion, meaning Lion, and Yama is our word for Mountain. It was the closest he could come up with to give thanks to our village.

"Who is the boy?" One of the guards asked looking over at Kazuki.

"This is my younger brother Raiyama Kazuki, it is his first time visiting Clarines now that he has reached of age." I could see from my peripheral vision the way his eyes looked over to me. It was rare that the people of the mountains ever spoke the surnames aloud. Which, I suppose is why I had never called Kazuki with my surname before. Even if he was my adopted son, it would be easier for the guards to see him as my younger brother for now.

"You will have to take him to the Crown Prince immediately to get him his own Badge Lady Raiyama." I tried my best not the show my distaste for the title that the Prince had decided to bestow upon my people. Treating me as if I was some tamed noble... Lady Raiyama.

"Thank you Sir, we will make sure to do that immediately after we board our horses." I spoke clicking my tongue to send Anri forward before the guards could respond.

"Come Kazu." I spoke signaling him to follow me quickly before the two guards changed their minds about letting up in on our lonesome. I was content taking my own horse to the stables instead of allowing someone else take care of Anri.

We made it to the stables without much difficulty and I boarded Anri, shooing off the stable hands who tried to help me. I knew they believed nobility could not do such things and I took a certain level of satisfaction watching them look at me with wide eyes. Then I helped Kazuki put Juniper into her own stable next to Anri although Juniper was less willing to go into the stall.

"Come on Juniper, in you go." I spoke looking over to Kazuki who quickly tried to cover up the glee on his face.  He wasn't quick enough. Another glance at the horse told me that she knew her master was nervous and was trying to help in the way she could.

"I'll give you a sugar cube if you go into the stall." I pulled one out from my satchel watching as she quickly back pedaled into the stall greedily eating the sugar cube I gave afterwards. I gave Anri one to telling her she had done a good job the first time.

"Alright, let's get cleaned up first Kazu. We want to look good for the Crown after all." I spoke going to the things in the stall that I had brought and took out two outfits. The first was a long black dress which had a long white coat over it that had a white cape draped on the shoulders. Red and Gold highlighted the outfit showing off the colors of the Lions of the mountains. The second matched the first completely, except it was for a young man instead of a woman.

"You had this made for me?" Kazuki asked his eyes widening at the sight of such fine material. I smiled softly at him, one of these days maybe he would understand. But for now he needed to see the whole world and they needed to see the Crown Prince for that to happen.

"Go on now, if you are to be a Raiyama then you must act accordingly. We are a minor neighboring noble in this kingdom." I exclaimed walking towards the changing stalls that were nearby. They were not used very frequently she imagined and even less by someone who bore a blue tag. Nonetheless, we did not have rooms yet, although we probably would by the time we were done talking to the Crown Prince, so we had to change here.

I was the first to come out of the changing stall messing with the sleeves of this get-up. It was to confining for my liking, I was meant to be hunting. Not dressing up like a doll for everyone's amusement. But we were representing our territory and I needed people to see we were not just mere beasts.

I did need to check on my sister and I did want to see if the second prince was worthy of her. But I also wanted to help my family, which meant trying to increase our standing in the Kingdom of Clarines while we were here. Hence, the confining get-up was my only option.

"Do I have to wear this Mira? It's so suffocating and... stuffy." Kazu spoke the word with so much distaste as if the word had burned his being.

"Do not worry Kazu, I don't expect you to wear it for very long. Just for our meeting with the Crown Prince for now." I spoke as we walked towards the meeting room where the Crown Prince would soon be residing. Word would have made its way to him about a new Raiyama entering the castle grounds.

"Then does that mean you will be taking it off after our meeting with the Crown Prince?" Kazuki asked falling into a brisk step alongside me, his 'sister', and following my lead.

"Most likely I will be wearing the attire for a quite a time." I replied shrugging my shoulders without care as we came upon the door. The two guards opened the doors and announcing their arrivals, "Announcing Lady Raiyama and Sir Raiyama."

Since there could only be one head of household for each generation of nobles Kazu was demoted down to Sir instead of Lord. Even though technically I adopted him so he would start the next generation. Not that anyone knew these pieces of information yet. However, I would be making that knowledge known to the Crown Prince now.

I did not account for having company in the room when I was planning to do so... I absolutely did not expect my sister to be a part of the audience. Not that she knew who I was.

"Lady Raiyama, I surely haven't seen you in quite some time." The Crown Prince, Izana Wisteria, smirked at me forcing myself to recall the first time I had met the man.

It was a cold winter night on the mountains that bordered Estaria and Clarines. I was traveling with my father and several other lions of the mountains to talk with the Crown Prince of Clarines and the Crown Princess of Estaria. We needed to come to an agreement or a treaty of some sort considering they were our two closest neighbors, not counting Tanbarun. We already had established a working treaty with the King of Tanbarun.

"Chief, perhaps we should stop and allow our men a moments rest." I spoke to my father looking back at our struggling men and the few women who were with us. We did not have enough horses for everyone which meant that we had traveled at a much slower pace. We were on our horses which meant we had much more energy then our people.

"We must push onward, we have not much time until we must arrive at our destination." My father spoke as we trudged on, I sent a comforting look to our people as we went.

What seemed to be close to an hour had passed and we were nearing our destination just before the sun went down on the peaks of the mountains. That's when one of our men shouting alerting us to the dangers that lurked in the forests.

"Wolves!" I heard one of the men shout from behind us, I quickly looked back to see which direction he was pointing. He was pointing to the left of us where part of the mountain rose in elevation.

There were around ten wolves watching us with their piercing eyes. The wind howled signifying their arrival and I knew no matter what happened tonight... I refused to allow any of my men die.

"Lions of the Mountains, protect those who are the closest to exhaustion and head to the meeting point!" I yelled out to our people hoping down from my own stead Subarun. The wolves began to make their way down the mountain heading for us with only moments before their impending attack.

I offered my stead to some of the older warriors who had come along with us. I pulled out my most trusted sword, it gleamed in the pale moonlight. My father and I were the first to strike at the wolves trying to give our men enough time to get out of there.

"On your left." My father warned me as a wolf lunged towards me and I slashed my sword at it. Red blood splatting onto my pristine clothing. The wolf let out a wince of pain.

I shot my sword out piercing the wolf's chest and I felt it go through his muscle until I reached his heart. I pulled the sword from him not even having enough time to see if the wolf had died. Instead, I turned to the next wolf seeing that three more were coming for revenge for their fallen comrades.

I glanced at my father from the corner of my eye just making sure he was doing alright. That moment was all the wolves needed to descend upon me. The next thing I know a large black wolf is lunging at me with only one intent on its mind and I didn't have enough time to react.

But instead of the piercing pain of teeth shredding through my neck a sword appeared in front of me slashing at the wolf's neck. The blood now coated my hair and face but I did not have time to see who had saved me. I had been ignorant to take my eyes off of the battlefield.

My ears were ringing but I didn't stop until every last wolf was dead their blood running into the snow turning the white to a deep red.

"I had expected the precious daughter of the Chief to be a more experienced fighter. But surely no seasoned fighter would be ignorant enough to turn their eyes off of the opponent in front of them." I turned hearing a voice a didn't recognize speak aloud to the emptiness of the mountain.

My eyes widened at the man on the horse in front of me. His hair was so light that it appeared almost as white as the snow that blew around us. His lips were turned up into a smirk as he looked at me and I am sure I looked like a wild beast compared to him. There was no doubt in my mind that he was the Crown Prince that we had come to meet.

Here that man stood, significantly older, yet still he wore that same infuriating smirk. Over the years I had only had the pleasure of meeting with him four times and yet every time I was treated by the same sight.

"If it isn't the second in command of the lions herself. I don't know what this Lady talk is though, as far as I was aware you are quite the little beast Mirayuki." Izana's words were coated with smugness and teasing while he watched me.

"You should ask yourself then why you gave me the title oh mighty crown prince." I smarted back towards the man my face staying blank while he watched me. I imagine we would've stayed staring off like that for awhile if my sister hadn't interrupted us.

"Your—" Everyone's eyes, including mine, went towards my sister who was looking at me. Her eyes lit up as if she recognized who I was but that wasn't possible, "Your my sister!"

Her companions, one of who must be the second prince of Clarines considering his state of dress, all turned to look between the two of us.

"You know who I am?" For a moment I could feel my usual neutral face break as my eyes widened. She nodded a smile on her face as she took a step towards me. I could tell that the prince didn't seem to like the fact that she was coming towards me.

I took a step towards her cautiously like if I went to quickly she would skitter away. Next thing I know she is throwing herself into my arms wrapping herself around my waist. I caught her easily wrapping my own arms around her with a content smile on my face. 

It was a few moments before we let go of each other even though I was reluctant to do so. I took a good look at her, my baby sister and shook my head with a laugh.

"It's crazy to think the last time I saw you, you were just this itty bitty thing. How is it possible that you've grown so big." I watched as she laughed a little bit at my comment.

"I think that's kind of how life works." She responded rolling her eyes, still there was one burning question that I had to ask her.

"How exactly do you know who she is Shirayuki?" The second prince spoke his guard obviously higher than the ceiling, although I imagine Izana's is probably higher. I could understand it though, my sister and I couldn't look more different. She had taken her red hair from our grandmother, or so I am told, while I took our mother's almost black hair. She had gotten our mother's green eyes while I had taken that particular feature from our grandfather.

A pair of shimmering and rare golden eyes.

"She came with father to the inn when he came and I peeked." She responded turning to the second prince, "She seemed so cool carrying around a real sword. I remember thinking that I had such a cool older sister."

I let out a laugh remembering that trip all to well, I had only been nine years old when we went to the inn, "I'm surprised you remember that, you couldn't have been more than four at the time."

"How could I forget it? It was the first time I had seen my father and sister in my life." She responded and a pang went through my heart. She didn't even know mean even if I had known her when she was a baby and here I came waltzing into her life to see about the man she choose to love.

"So then Lady Raiyama," The Second prince spoke the title with such disdain that I thought he would like nothing more than to throw me out of the castle right then and there, "What brings you to Clarines?"

"Introducing Kazuki, my son, into society of course." I responded smoothly finally allowing that piece of information to fill the room. I looked over to Izana and while his face did not show any signs of shock I knew that he had to be.

"Son? I thought father had taken you in Kazuki?" Shirayuki looked over my shoulder at Kazuki her eyebrows furrowing together in question.

"Um, I mean in a way but Mira adopted me so technically she's uh..." He looked towards me not feeling very comfortable calling me mom I guess.

"Don't worry Kazu I haven't made you call me mom in the past three years, I certainly won't force you now." I joked with a laugh and yet I knew I wouldn't mind a bit if he had. He nodded in thanks to me.

"I see then, you'll be needing a tag to enter the castle freely then?" Even though Izana phrased it as a question I knew he wasn't really asking.

"Yes, also if you could have him addressed as Lord Raiyama instead of Sir I would appreciate it. Since he is my son and not my brother he is of a different generation than I." I responded smirking at Izana and tilting my head in mirth my hair falling a bit in front of my face.

"So then, you've met the Crown Prince before?" Shirayuki asked noticing that he did not mention that her sister would need an ID Tag and the title.

Izana's eyes locked with that question and I felt a sizzle of electricity go between us. His smirk only widened at me most likely remembering the few times we had met. He held my gaze so intently to where I could not respond, so instead he did his eyes never wavering from mine.

"Oh yes, I know your dear sister quite well I would say."

Author's Note
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Hello! Man it is crazy to think that I am editing this story now. It had been almost five years since I finished this story. But, it no longer meets my standards lol. I will be reposting the old chapters though so that everyone can read the old story until I finish the re-write. The man difference is that Kazuki is not in the original story that I wrote... Plus I think I have a better writing style now.

But I hope you enjoy this new chapter, I will also be posting just the updated version on Archive of our own if anybody prefers that site. My user on AO3 is MESparks. I also have several other stories on there, namely a Sherlock/Original Female Character if anyone is interested.