The Prince's Princess (14/?)
“O-ha-yo~!” Came the shout into his room, Yamada’s voice, and his curtains were quickly cast aside, sunlight streaming in. Inoo scrunched up his face and rolled, murmuring “Huh…?”
“It’s morning.” Inoo opened his eyes to see Takaki’s face only an inch or so from his own. “Wake up.”
Inoo blinked, blushed, and jumped back, definitely awake now. The wake up squad consisted of the Northerners and Yamada, who he assumed they’d woken up first.
“I said wake him, not freak him out.” Ryutaro told Takaki dryly.
“Oh, he’s not freaked out… Right?”
Inoo wasn’t sure how to answer that. Judging by the order for their bedrooms down the hallway, Ayaki should be there too. He figured he should ask.
“Where’s Ayaki? Did you guys wake her too?” He’d sat up now, and could think and talk better.
“Well… We tried.” Yabu said shortly.
“She threw a shoe at us and told us to get the heck out of her room.” Shintaro continued the answer, glancing around Inoo’s room a bit more.
“Her loss.” It was official: Inoo was awake. “What do we do now?” he asked.
“You come with us to the next room.” Yamada answered with a simple smile. “We’re waking up Chii~”
They went into Chinen’s room. There was no yelling-Ryutaro shushed them, walking over to the edge of Chinen’s bed. He kissed Chinen’s forehead, getting to his knees so that Chinen’s face was level with his own. Inoo suddenly felt like the scene was personal, that he shouldn’t be watching it. Averting his eyes, he saw that the others felt the same way.
When the forehead kiss didn’t have the desired effect, Ryutaro gently picked up Chinen’s left hand, bringing the smaller boy’s fingertips to his lips and whispering against them “Wake up~”
Chinen was saying “Ryu-chan…” Before he opened his eyes. Instead of jumping back, like Inoo had, he just gave Ryutaro a simple smile.
“That’s it.” Takaki began. “If another… Hour goes by and you two aren’t a couple yet, I’m going to-”
He was quickly cut off.
“Chinen, will you please be my boyfriend? I want to go on a date with you tomorrow.” On his knees, it looked more like Ryutaro was asking for Chii’s hand in marriage. Either way, Chinen nodded, putting his arms around Ryutaro’s neck.
“I was waiting for you to ask.”
The atmosphere was getting a bit dangerous (at least for Shintaro), so the Wake Up brigade left, going into Hikaru’s room. Yabu’s method was much less gentle than Ryu’s: the boy let out a shout and launched himself, landing on Hikaru’s shirtless frame.
Hikaru sat up fast, before even opening his eyes. As a result, he woke up to a lapful of Yabu.
“Good morning~!” The taller one said cheerily, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
“G-good…” Hikaru managed to stutter back, still bewildered. He didn’t speak farther than that.
“I think he’s nice and awake.” Takaki remarked dryly, Inoo and Yamada nodding.
“C’mon Hikaru, get up.” Yamada coaxed.
“Can’t. Got a little something on my lap.” Hikaru wrapped his arms possessively around Yabu’s shoulders and snuggling his face into his neck, the taller boy blushing brilliantly.
“C’mon~” Inoo pouted. “We need to wake Dai-chan.”
Soon, Hikaru and Yabu were out of bed. Chinen and Ryutaro had joined them by then, and they went into Daiki’s room together.
“Good morning Dai-chan!” Chinen called as they walked up the hallway. As Inoo opened the door, he was surprised to hear an awake-sounding “Good morning~” being called back at them. Daiki was sitting up in bed, a breakfast tray loaded down with food on a plate in his lap. Keito was sitting on a chair next to the bed, and judging by the lowering chopsticks in Keito’s hand and the fact that Daiki was now chewing strongly suggested that Keito was feeding Daiki breakfast.
“Oh. You’re awake.” Yamada pouted.
“No need to sound so excited.” Daiki retorted. “What are you guys doing anyways?”
“Waking everybody up!” Chinen cheered. “Well, I think that you guys started it all by yourself, right?” he asked, getting two affirmative nods from the Northern party.
“You guys do know that we’ll be getting you back soon, right?” Hikaru asked, turning to Takaki. “Like… Tomorrow morning, maybe~?”
“But we have a party tonight. We’ll be up till like midnight, and-”
“You were on the road all day yesterday and seem fine.” Inoo couldn’t help but point out. None of them had a defending answer, which made them grin.
“There you guys are!” Ayaki was walking toward them all in a huff, sticking her head into Daiki’s bedroom. “There’s still tons of stuff to do! C’mon!”
“Do we have to do it?” Hikaru asked. “I mean, helping out is fun sometimes, but-”
“Well, at least begin looking presentable.” She snapped at them “And eat breakfast.”
“Yes your highness.” Yamada bowed to her, slightly mockingly, and she stalked off.
“Hikaru,” Inoo turned to his brother “I think that roughly translates to: Go put a shirt on.”
“I think he looks just fine without a shirt on.” Yabu responded, the rest of them bursting out into giggles. With that matter resolved, they changed nothing and just went straight down to the kitchens.
“Chinen Yuri-kun.”
The voice was familiar, but the tone different. They had not yet eaten, saving the cake and presents for last. Ayaki had invited all the noblemen from nearly everywhere in their region of the country. Them, with the Northerners, made for quite a turnout. Some of the Northerners were still arriving, coming back from changing into their fancy party clothes-the only ones Inoo hadn’t yet seen were Takaki and Ryutaro. The party had already started up however, lots of laughter and dancing to the music. Chinen, who had been sitting and talking to Inoo, froze in mid-sentence, mid-word even, and looked up.
Ryutaro got down in front of him, on one knee, kissing his hand.
“May I have this dance?”
The taller boy in question was wearing a dark, low cut silk outfit that brilliantly brought out his eyes. He wasn’t wearing and bracelets, rings, or necklaces; bare, soft, and innocent. The innocence was killed a bit however by the smoldering look in his eyes.
“O…Okay.” Obviously stunned, Chinen stared at him for a few moments, taking the boy in. Ryutaro smiled, getting to his feet and pulling Chii from his chair with by his hand. Inoo watched them walk off, a smile on his face. Ryutaro was such a romantic.
“Prince Inoo, I want to talk to you.” It was Ayaki, walking up to him. “Let’s dance, okay?”
Not sure of what else to do, Inoo nodded, standing and making his way over to her on the dance floor.
“Sorry I snapped at you guys earlier. I was a bit… Nervous about tonight.”
Inoo nodded. “It’s fine.”
“You all seem to be getting along well with the Princes.” She observed. Inoo laughed.
“Well, the adventure at Tomone was a bit of a bonding experience.”
“I can see that.” In a dry voice, Ayaki looked over to the dancing Chinen and Ryutaro couple. “Anyway,” she turned back to face Inoo, wanting to change the subject “You sure you’re alright? I haven’t really talked to you since… Well, you know, and I just wanted to make sure-”
“I’m fine.” Inoo cut her off quickly. “Just on over-reaction-don’t worry about it. It isn’t your concern.”
“I hope there’s nothing concerning the princess on her celebration day.” A smile in his deep voice, Inoo turned to see Takaki standing behind him, giving Ayaki a dazzling smile. Caught in it’s glare, Inoo had to look away.
“Takaki!” With a smile, Ayaki threw herself at him. She did that a lot, Inoo noticed. Takaki laughed, catching her a bit and making sure she didn’t fall on him, holding her up. Noticing that the prince and the guest of honor, princess, were in each other’s arms, the conductor decided to have a little fun with the music selection. A fast tempo began, as did clapping and cheering. Clapping along with the rest, Inoo was grabbed by a lady he had never seen before, and the dance began, everyone caught up in the music. There was lots of moving around room and switching partners, Inoo finding himself face to face with Hikaru at one point. The two giggled at each other before having to move on. In a whirlwind of excitement and flushed faced, the song ended, a slow tune immediately following. The crowd was instantly mellowed, slow dancing.
Inoo realized, to his distress, that he had taken to being the woman’s position in the slow dance, a hand on his hip and side while his own hand was resting on his dance partner’s shoulder. He was about to look up at them and apologize when a chuckle froze him. He recognized the voice immediately.
“So you’re automatically the woman, huh.” Takaki laughed. “I see.”
“I… I’m not!” Inoo, bright red, tried to push himself away from the prince, but Takaki held onto him insistently, pulling him a bit closer.
“I think you are~” he whispered, blowing in Inoo’s ear for effect. Inoo jumped, much to Takaki’s amusement, who shook his head and laughed.
“Am not.”
“I’m taller, manlier, and older.” Takaki said matter-of-factly.
“You’re the girliest one in your family!” Inoo insisted, still struggling to pull away.
“So are you.” Takaki told him.
“There’s Ayaki.”
Takaki couldn’t argue with that. Annoyed with Inoo’s struggles, he leaned close to Inoo again and whispered “I want you to stay with me.” Of course, that made Inoo stop immediately, pink in the face. Takaki smirked as if he had won something, and the two continued to dance.
“This… It’s exactly like…” Takaki whispered to himself, sounding confused.
“Like what?” Inoo asked, curious.
“Well, at the first ball, and…” Takaki trailed off, saying “Nevermind. You weren’t there anyways.”
He recognizes the way I’m dancing, all that dancing I did with him. Inoo realized. The song ended not a few seconds later, and Inoo succeeded on removing himself from the Prince’s arms.
“T-thank you for the dance.” He stuttered out quickly, bolting from the room, heart racing. Anything to avoid being found out.
“He… He remembered the way that I dance.” Inoo placed a hand over his pounding heart.
“I want you to stay with me.”
Sinking to the ground in defeat to his own feelings, Inoo was sure he looked at least like a flamingo by now.
“Oi, what’re you-oh, Inoo are you okay?” Daiki looked down at him, concerned. Seeing him, Inoo hard not to burst out laughing. Daiki’s bangs were pinned back, and he was wearing a dark pink apron over his fancy clothes, something that looked like batter or icing smeared over the front of it.
Deciding not to comment about his appearance, Inoo said “You know, you’re totally missing the party.”
Daiki shrugged. “It got boring.” He said. Sitting next to Inoo, he asked “What’s up with you? You’re the color of my apron.”
Before he could answer, Keito stuck his head out of the kitchen door and said “Hey Dai-chan, I need help with…” Seeing Inoo there, he trailed off before saying a simple “Hi.”
“What do you need?” With Daiki’s attention immediately stolen, Inoo sighed and stood, saying “I’ll tell you later.”
Mrs. Nakajima entered, saying “We’re going to cut the cake soon. You’d both better get out there, you majesties. You too, Okamoto-kun-they’ll need more waiters.”
They all nodded in acknowledgement, Daiki taking his apron off, clips out of his hair. Keito took the apron, replacing it in the kitchen.
“I put the cookie dough in the oven. Mrs. Nakajima said that she would take care of them.” Keito informed Daiki, who nodded. Together, the three of them returned to the ballroom. Back to the prince, with Ayaki in his arms.
“It’s morning.” Inoo opened his eyes to see Takaki’s face only an inch or so from his own. “Wake up.”
Inoo blinked, blushed, and jumped back, definitely awake now. The wake up squad consisted of the Northerners and Yamada, who he assumed they’d woken up first.
“I said wake him, not freak him out.” Ryutaro told Takaki dryly.
“Oh, he’s not freaked out… Right?”
Inoo wasn’t sure how to answer that. Judging by the order for their bedrooms down the hallway, Ayaki should be there too. He figured he should ask.
“Where’s Ayaki? Did you guys wake her too?” He’d sat up now, and could think and talk better.
“Well… We tried.” Yabu said shortly.
“She threw a shoe at us and told us to get the heck out of her room.” Shintaro continued the answer, glancing around Inoo’s room a bit more.
“Her loss.” It was official: Inoo was awake. “What do we do now?” he asked.
“You come with us to the next room.” Yamada answered with a simple smile. “We’re waking up Chii~”
They went into Chinen’s room. There was no yelling-Ryutaro shushed them, walking over to the edge of Chinen’s bed. He kissed Chinen’s forehead, getting to his knees so that Chinen’s face was level with his own. Inoo suddenly felt like the scene was personal, that he shouldn’t be watching it. Averting his eyes, he saw that the others felt the same way.
When the forehead kiss didn’t have the desired effect, Ryutaro gently picked up Chinen’s left hand, bringing the smaller boy’s fingertips to his lips and whispering against them “Wake up~”
Chinen was saying “Ryu-chan…” Before he opened his eyes. Instead of jumping back, like Inoo had, he just gave Ryutaro a simple smile.
“That’s it.” Takaki began. “If another… Hour goes by and you two aren’t a couple yet, I’m going to-”
He was quickly cut off.
“Chinen, will you please be my boyfriend? I want to go on a date with you tomorrow.” On his knees, it looked more like Ryutaro was asking for Chii’s hand in marriage. Either way, Chinen nodded, putting his arms around Ryutaro’s neck.
“I was waiting for you to ask.”
The atmosphere was getting a bit dangerous (at least for Shintaro), so the Wake Up brigade left, going into Hikaru’s room. Yabu’s method was much less gentle than Ryu’s: the boy let out a shout and launched himself, landing on Hikaru’s shirtless frame.
Hikaru sat up fast, before even opening his eyes. As a result, he woke up to a lapful of Yabu.
“Good morning~!” The taller one said cheerily, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
“G-good…” Hikaru managed to stutter back, still bewildered. He didn’t speak farther than that.
“I think he’s nice and awake.” Takaki remarked dryly, Inoo and Yamada nodding.
“C’mon Hikaru, get up.” Yamada coaxed.
“Can’t. Got a little something on my lap.” Hikaru wrapped his arms possessively around Yabu’s shoulders and snuggling his face into his neck, the taller boy blushing brilliantly.
“C’mon~” Inoo pouted. “We need to wake Dai-chan.”
Soon, Hikaru and Yabu were out of bed. Chinen and Ryutaro had joined them by then, and they went into Daiki’s room together.
“Good morning Dai-chan!” Chinen called as they walked up the hallway. As Inoo opened the door, he was surprised to hear an awake-sounding “Good morning~” being called back at them. Daiki was sitting up in bed, a breakfast tray loaded down with food on a plate in his lap. Keito was sitting on a chair next to the bed, and judging by the lowering chopsticks in Keito’s hand and the fact that Daiki was now chewing strongly suggested that Keito was feeding Daiki breakfast.
“Oh. You’re awake.” Yamada pouted.
“No need to sound so excited.” Daiki retorted. “What are you guys doing anyways?”
“Waking everybody up!” Chinen cheered. “Well, I think that you guys started it all by yourself, right?” he asked, getting two affirmative nods from the Northern party.
“You guys do know that we’ll be getting you back soon, right?” Hikaru asked, turning to Takaki. “Like… Tomorrow morning, maybe~?”
“But we have a party tonight. We’ll be up till like midnight, and-”
“You were on the road all day yesterday and seem fine.” Inoo couldn’t help but point out. None of them had a defending answer, which made them grin.
“There you guys are!” Ayaki was walking toward them all in a huff, sticking her head into Daiki’s bedroom. “There’s still tons of stuff to do! C’mon!”
“Do we have to do it?” Hikaru asked. “I mean, helping out is fun sometimes, but-”
“Well, at least begin looking presentable.” She snapped at them “And eat breakfast.”
“Yes your highness.” Yamada bowed to her, slightly mockingly, and she stalked off.
“Hikaru,” Inoo turned to his brother “I think that roughly translates to: Go put a shirt on.”
“I think he looks just fine without a shirt on.” Yabu responded, the rest of them bursting out into giggles. With that matter resolved, they changed nothing and just went straight down to the kitchens.
“Chinen Yuri-kun.”
The voice was familiar, but the tone different. They had not yet eaten, saving the cake and presents for last. Ayaki had invited all the noblemen from nearly everywhere in their region of the country. Them, with the Northerners, made for quite a turnout. Some of the Northerners were still arriving, coming back from changing into their fancy party clothes-the only ones Inoo hadn’t yet seen were Takaki and Ryutaro. The party had already started up however, lots of laughter and dancing to the music. Chinen, who had been sitting and talking to Inoo, froze in mid-sentence, mid-word even, and looked up.
Ryutaro got down in front of him, on one knee, kissing his hand.
“May I have this dance?”
The taller boy in question was wearing a dark, low cut silk outfit that brilliantly brought out his eyes. He wasn’t wearing and bracelets, rings, or necklaces; bare, soft, and innocent. The innocence was killed a bit however by the smoldering look in his eyes.
“O…Okay.” Obviously stunned, Chinen stared at him for a few moments, taking the boy in. Ryutaro smiled, getting to his feet and pulling Chii from his chair with by his hand. Inoo watched them walk off, a smile on his face. Ryutaro was such a romantic.
“Prince Inoo, I want to talk to you.” It was Ayaki, walking up to him. “Let’s dance, okay?”
Not sure of what else to do, Inoo nodded, standing and making his way over to her on the dance floor.
“Sorry I snapped at you guys earlier. I was a bit… Nervous about tonight.”
Inoo nodded. “It’s fine.”
“You all seem to be getting along well with the Princes.” She observed. Inoo laughed.
“Well, the adventure at Tomone was a bit of a bonding experience.”
“I can see that.” In a dry voice, Ayaki looked over to the dancing Chinen and Ryutaro couple. “Anyway,” she turned back to face Inoo, wanting to change the subject “You sure you’re alright? I haven’t really talked to you since… Well, you know, and I just wanted to make sure-”
“I’m fine.” Inoo cut her off quickly. “Just on over-reaction-don’t worry about it. It isn’t your concern.”
“I hope there’s nothing concerning the princess on her celebration day.” A smile in his deep voice, Inoo turned to see Takaki standing behind him, giving Ayaki a dazzling smile. Caught in it’s glare, Inoo had to look away.
“Takaki!” With a smile, Ayaki threw herself at him. She did that a lot, Inoo noticed. Takaki laughed, catching her a bit and making sure she didn’t fall on him, holding her up. Noticing that the prince and the guest of honor, princess, were in each other’s arms, the conductor decided to have a little fun with the music selection. A fast tempo began, as did clapping and cheering. Clapping along with the rest, Inoo was grabbed by a lady he had never seen before, and the dance began, everyone caught up in the music. There was lots of moving around room and switching partners, Inoo finding himself face to face with Hikaru at one point. The two giggled at each other before having to move on. In a whirlwind of excitement and flushed faced, the song ended, a slow tune immediately following. The crowd was instantly mellowed, slow dancing.
Inoo realized, to his distress, that he had taken to being the woman’s position in the slow dance, a hand on his hip and side while his own hand was resting on his dance partner’s shoulder. He was about to look up at them and apologize when a chuckle froze him. He recognized the voice immediately.
“So you’re automatically the woman, huh.” Takaki laughed. “I see.”
“I… I’m not!” Inoo, bright red, tried to push himself away from the prince, but Takaki held onto him insistently, pulling him a bit closer.
“I think you are~” he whispered, blowing in Inoo’s ear for effect. Inoo jumped, much to Takaki’s amusement, who shook his head and laughed.
“Am not.”
“I’m taller, manlier, and older.” Takaki said matter-of-factly.
“You’re the girliest one in your family!” Inoo insisted, still struggling to pull away.
“So are you.” Takaki told him.
“There’s Ayaki.”
Takaki couldn’t argue with that. Annoyed with Inoo’s struggles, he leaned close to Inoo again and whispered “I want you to stay with me.” Of course, that made Inoo stop immediately, pink in the face. Takaki smirked as if he had won something, and the two continued to dance.
“This… It’s exactly like…” Takaki whispered to himself, sounding confused.
“Like what?” Inoo asked, curious.
“Well, at the first ball, and…” Takaki trailed off, saying “Nevermind. You weren’t there anyways.”
He recognizes the way I’m dancing, all that dancing I did with him. Inoo realized. The song ended not a few seconds later, and Inoo succeeded on removing himself from the Prince’s arms.
“T-thank you for the dance.” He stuttered out quickly, bolting from the room, heart racing. Anything to avoid being found out.
“He… He remembered the way that I dance.” Inoo placed a hand over his pounding heart.
“I want you to stay with me.”
Sinking to the ground in defeat to his own feelings, Inoo was sure he looked at least like a flamingo by now.
“Oi, what’re you-oh, Inoo are you okay?” Daiki looked down at him, concerned. Seeing him, Inoo hard not to burst out laughing. Daiki’s bangs were pinned back, and he was wearing a dark pink apron over his fancy clothes, something that looked like batter or icing smeared over the front of it.
Deciding not to comment about his appearance, Inoo said “You know, you’re totally missing the party.”
Daiki shrugged. “It got boring.” He said. Sitting next to Inoo, he asked “What’s up with you? You’re the color of my apron.”
Before he could answer, Keito stuck his head out of the kitchen door and said “Hey Dai-chan, I need help with…” Seeing Inoo there, he trailed off before saying a simple “Hi.”
“What do you need?” With Daiki’s attention immediately stolen, Inoo sighed and stood, saying “I’ll tell you later.”
Mrs. Nakajima entered, saying “We’re going to cut the cake soon. You’d both better get out there, you majesties. You too, Okamoto-kun-they’ll need more waiters.”
They all nodded in acknowledgement, Daiki taking his apron off, clips out of his hair. Keito took the apron, replacing it in the kitchen.
“I put the cookie dough in the oven. Mrs. Nakajima said that she would take care of them.” Keito informed Daiki, who nodded. Together, the three of them returned to the ballroom. Back to the prince, with Ayaki in his arms.