Still trying to recover from the thought of his betrothed watching him ply his craft, and half naked at that, Akito has to fight hard not to yelp at the sudden hard contact with his back. Instead he coughs, catching himself from falling over. The sting of it is enough to draw him out of his shock and his flush redoubles as he pulls his kimono back into place. Hoko, who'd chattered loudly at the sudden jolt, crawls into the kimono to rest as if all the work Akito just did exhausted him. Akito almost laughs at it however he's still too caught up in the embarrassment and mild panic to follow through with the feeling.

“Yes, I'm sure that's true highness.” He mutters. Pulling his clothes into place Akito glances at the sidelines again. [i]'Yes, he';s smiling. Probably laughing at me for being so into fighting. I bet he thinks all of this is just foolish. . . .Did he say magic?'[/i] Aki had once been very curious about magic, but after one of the testers came through camp to find soldiers magical aptitude to take and train and he'd done a less than satisfactory job at the test and was turned down he never really gave it a second thought. At least unless he was told that he'd be fighting a battle with magic users in it. He'd actually developed quite a knack for killing magicians. [i]'But, I think I'll skip mentioning that to his highness. Don't need yet another reason for him to hate me. . .'[/i]

“Of course highness. . .” He bows low, accepting the invitation to spar with him in the future. Watching the older male go his fingers stroke along his pets body who shifts and coos happily, crawling out from inside the kimono to under the obi so he can have a more relaxing rest. In a short avoidance tactic the soldier makes his way over to where his haori is hanging on the dummy and begins carefully putting it on. However one look at his father lets him know he needs to stop stalling and go see his betrothed. His flushed cheeks are still rather dark, though he could play that off to the rush from the workout. He walks slowly, but eventually comes close enough to be addressed. Watching the prince bow he is struck with both curiosity and nervousness. Well, beyond the nervousness he was already feeling.

[i]'Why is he. . .?'[/i] Though he keeps his eyes down out of habit, he does glance up at the man's words. Returning the bow he chews over the prince's words, looking for the meaning behind them. [i]'How can you claim one minute that you despise war, and in the next say that you are impressed but battle prowess? They are linked in a very true and solid fashion, and I just. . .This man is going to drive me mad before we even tie the knot, I swear. . .'[/i] Deciding not to comment on his own thoughts he thanks Hiro softly for the praise, watching his father be escorted out and catching the look he was shot.

Behind him he can hear whispers and his soldier training kicks in to listen. “They seem so cordial with one another. . .

“Well of course, they've only just met!”

“But they are to be married. . . .”

“Doesn't mean they are going to hit it off. They may end up hating each other. . .”

“I just hope that samurai is gentle with the prince. I know how rough those soldier types can get. . .”

“Of course you do Rania, you use to camp jump when you were actually cute enough to do so!”

“Are you calling me ugly!?”

Akito tunes the rest out, once more turning deep crimson at the image of “Being with” the prince. Looking up at the man in question he manages to returns the smile, a light cough finding it's way out to try and banish the image. “You father is actually quite good, especially for his age. My father is only a handful of years younger and he does not do much better than that. He may have tried to play it down to his age, but I still think he may have done better against me if he'd been alone. . .” He drops his gaze again. “Though, I guess we shall find out. . .” Coughing again he looks up. “I'm sorry, did this bout interrupt something? I am sure you have better things to do than show me around. . .” He shuffles his feet a bit, looking somewhere around the prince's knees.