Rito's heart pounds against his chest as he runs at a pace as fast as his enhanced small legs could carry him, a determined look remains on his immature face, and as the sky grows darker by the second, his eyes also become sharper, more so than ever.

The excitement of confronting an unknown foes and the raging anger, a deep seeded hatred he has always felt towards the unfairness of the world now burn in his body, it threatens to spill out, to break open the cage he created for it so long ago... Finally, he has reached his destination.

The alley is dark and dirty, aside from the gleam occasionally given off by an, obviously new, knife and glistening tears streaming down the blonde, probably six to seven years old, little girl who trembles before the two tattooed men, not much else is visible, at least not to normal eyes.

"Careful! The boss doesn't want her hurt." Says one of the men, whose appearance alone screams 'bad guy'.

At first glance, these men seem to be amateurs. But Rito knows more than to underestimate his enemies, his years of being a mercenary taught him to never judge something by its cover.

Sure enough, his judgements are proven to be correct. Despite their sloppy actions, which he concludes due to their lack of experience in doing things like this, their movements are all fast and decisive. Before the poor girl could even struggle, she has already been grabbed by one of them.

Of course, this isn't a proud feat or achievement of any kind, and to a martial artist, is kind of insulting. It did, however, give Rito an insight into their identities.

"Trained veterans, no ellite, but trained nonetheless..." He mutters under his breath, his eyes once again focus on the two men. For someone to order two trained men to capture a little girl, it truly begs the question, just who the hell is she?

Surpressing his curiosity, Rito grabs a nearby rock. Given the situation, direct confrontation is a no-go, despite his strength and speed probably surpassing them, he couldn't be sure they wouldn't take the girl hostage, not to mention how restricted he is by his own body.

As for magic, with his cultivation not even reaching the First Circle, he couldn't depend on it as its prowess wouldn't be high, it could at most annoy the two gorillas, but making lethal wounds? He doubts it.

"Now would be the best time to act." He decides after struggling for a bit. The girl is still causing a ruckus, and according to the men, they can't hurt her or their boss will be mad so he has some time.

Holding the rock near his chest, Rito makes sure that his feet aren't staggered before drawing his left leg up, he leans backward, his right arm bends flexibly in an almost incomprehensible way.

"Now!" Aiming his throw at the nearest man, Rito stomps his feet. The sound of the rock cutting through the air echoes, drowned out by muffled cries of the girl and the two men grumbles.

Almost instantly, the rock reaches its target, sound of skull breaking makes the other man widen his eyes in surprise. Alas, it's already too late. Before he could react, a hand, although small, possesses incredible strength punches out. And just like that, the poor bastard's balls are mercilessly crushed.

Rito's arm twiches in spasm, begging him to take the knife, now laid peacefully on the ground, and take it he did.

•▪•▪•▪•

Sitting on a pink chair in a beautifully made garden, the small blonde girl looks up at the stars, lost in its beauty. Contrary to her parents worries, what turns her into this wasn't fear, but something else entirely. Try as she might, the throbbing in her heart refuses to stop. "Is this love?" She asks, automatically toning down her voice until it's barely audible.

"Saki-sama, are you sure you're alright?" A worried voice calls out to her. There stands her best friend and soon to be bodyguard. Had it been any other normal day, Saki would've replied cheerfully like she always does, yet this time, her head seems to float on the cloud as she plucks a nearby flower.

"He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me..." As her hands quickly move, tearing off each petal, Saki repeatedly says what seems to be a curse at first glance. She is also staring intensely at the white flower as if wanting to burn a hole in it with her eyes.

Unfortunately for the love-struck girl, her luck is quite bad. At the end of the flower fortune telling game, she gets a 'He loves me not'. Depressed, the girl falls down on the field of flower while her body curls up like a cat. This makes the already worried Rin panick as she runs off to find help. As professional as she is, the girl is only six this year, no one could really blame her.

As for Saki. She lays motionlessly on the ground, staring at something so close yet so far away. Soon, memory of this afternoon floods her mind.

•▪•▪•▪•

In that dark alley, the disgusting smells of rotten food and dead rats were unbearable even for a homeless person, not to mention an Oujo-sama like Saki. Though that didn't matter, at least not at the moment.

Her father, Ryuuga Tenjouin was the CEO of a large company and while this background came with a lot of benefits, it also came with a whole bunch of disavantages. For example, she couldn't have many friends due to most people fearing her, her father also didn't want her to easily make friends as to avoid others from using his one and only daughter.

Wherever she went, there always had to be at least one bodyguard. The moment anyone approached her, her bodyguard would let out an ominous vibe to shoo them away. While Saki herself knew this was for her own good, she couldn't help but hate her fate. It was bad enough that her parents almost never spent time with her, she couldn't even have friends.

And that's why she ran... She gave into the pressure and ran, leaving behind her bodyguards assigned to her by her father. How could Saki have known that her father's enemies were waiting for this chance? Thus immediately after she, somehow, managed to escape them, Saki was chased down by scary two men.

Her small stature allowed her to play hide-n'-seek with them for quite a while. Still, she eventually got caught, cornered in this alley. Just when she thought it was over, he came... Her knight in shinning armor came. Saki forced herself to stay awake for a few minutes, enough for her to see her hero. Then the exhaustion hit her and everything went black.

When she woke up, she was in her family mansion. Apparrently the two criminals were captured at the same time the police found her, one was put into vegetable state while the other had his private part crushed and his hand tendons completely cut off. It was so brutal that it gave the police the chill.

When they asked her what she knew about her savior, Saki obediently said what she knew without giving off her hero's identity 'cause as far as she's concerned, although samaritan acts were encouraged, making lethal injuries was frowned upon, so she did her best to not give off anything, not that she knew much. The alley was dark and she was exhausted, the most of her hero she had seen was his back.

After asking a few more questions, the police left. She was scolded and grounded by her father and had been in a trance like this since. People were worried she was traumatized, but her best friend, Kujou Rin knew the truth. She knew why her Oujo-sama was being like this.

•▪•▪•▪•

"My knight... Where are you." Clutching the torn flower petals in her hands, Saki continues to lay there unmoving, her eyes unfocused.

As for said knight...

"RITO!HOWCOULDYOUBETRAYMYTRUSTLIKETHAT?!!!ANDWHEREISYOURSHIRT?!" He is having the time of his life.

"I'm sorry mom..."

That night, the Yuukis didn't go to sleep until three in the morning. And unlike the love-struck princess, the knight was forever traumatized as he vowed to never provoke the demon that's his mother ever again.