fic for akhikaru (2/2)
For: akhikaru
From: inaudible_d
Part 1
Nino ran and ran like his life was depended on it. Well, his life was depended on it, it’s not every day that you found out that a king liked you. Nino ran faster when his brain tickled him with a possibility that the king wanted him to be his queen. He kept running and running, not caring if the guards were still chasing them or not. He kept going forward until he found an obstacle for both him and his brother, a lake so broad it almost seemed like the ocean.
“Wait. I think I have seen something like this before,” Masaki looked around him, astonished. This couldn’t be right, he thought, as he pulled the map out of his rucksack.
“What’s wrong?” Nino asked a bit breathlessly. He didn’t even realize that he had run out of breath while running away.
Masaki observed the map on his hand seriously, pointing the lake with his hand then back to the map again, then looked around then back to the map again. He pointed one point on the map then looked around again.
“There it is! That must be it!” he saw something in a distance and walked that way.
Nino followed him. He didn’t quite understand what Masaki was doing, but he hoped that it was something good. It had to be something good.
Masaki stopped in front of a huge tree and pointed it, then he looked around and a smile suddenly showed up on his face. He turned his head around to look for Nino and gestured Nino to come over when he saw him.
“What do you find?” Nino asked impatiently.
“Princess Peach is across this lake,” Masaki answered, his smile had turned into grin.
“How do you know?” Nino found himself still doubtful about his brother.
“The map,” Masaki waved it in front of Nino, “it said that the castle is across a great lake. We have to take the stone bridge that can be found sixteen steps from the biggest tree around.”
Nino looked at the tree and around. Masaki was right, the tree was the biggest around. He then looked at the stone bridge not so far away from them.
“That bridge?” Nino pointed.
Masaki nodded and started walking from the tree to the bridge.
“It’s exactly sixteen steps!” he exclaimed and clapped his hands happily when he reached the bridge.
Nino followed him, counted his own steps. It was indeed exactly sixteen steps. Although it’s a bit weird since his brother’s steps were wider than his. Probably his brother took short steps, he decided.
“We have to go across this bridge,” Masaki explained, “there will be obstacles, the map said, although I’m not sure what.”
“Let’s just find out,” Nino stepped on the bridge.
Masaki followed his brother closely behind, didn’t want to be left. He felt worried because the map said that there would be some obstacle that they would meet on the way. Okubo san didn’t mention anything about the river though. The only thing Masaki remembered was she said that they better stay away from the lake and found another route instead.
There was no other route that they could take, Masaki argued in his head. He kept his eyes glued on his brother’s back while observing their surrounding. The stone bridge looked completely fine actually, but he still felt worried because of Okubo san’s words. Just what did she mean when she told him to stay away from the bridge?
The answer showed up almost instantly in front of them. Nino suddenly stopped on his track, making Masaki stop too. Nino made an annoyed sound. Masaki looked to the track in front of them. The bridge was broken in the middle, there was nothing but water in front of them, and other end of the bridge was on quite a distance.
“I think we have to swim across this,” Nino made a decision and lowered himself to the water.
“Watch out!” Masaki exclaimed, pointed at a small creature that looked like squid floating near the bridge’s end.
“Whoops, here comes another weird creature,” Nino stood back up, “they don’t look really dangerous, though, and slow.”
“Look like so,” Masaki agreed, “so we swim quickly?”
“We swim quickly,” Nino agreed and jumped to the water.
They swam, made some maneuver when needed to avoid the squids which happened to start chasing them once they saw them. Nino and Masaki swam faster and faster, and finally they made it to the other end of the bridge. They got out of the water and exchanged looks of relief.
The castle was already visible from where they were right then, and Nino felt a wave of spirit rushing through his blood. He stood up and walked fast on the stone bridge, forgot that he had to keep his awareness of the surroundings. Nino didn’t see it when a flying fish jumped out of the water beside the bridge and almost hit him. All he knew was Masaki suddenly pushed him until he was lying, face down, on the bridge.
“What was that for?” he scolded his brother.
“There was a flying fish!” Masaki told him.
“What? Stop with the flying creature joke!” Nino scolded Masaki more.
“I’m not joking! Look!” Masaki pointed above them.
Nino looked up, and this time, Masaki was right. There was a fish flying above them. That fish seemed to jump from the right side of the bridge to the left side.
“Whoa that’s dangerous,” Nino commented.
They finally made it to the lakeside by crawling their way on the bridge. Once Nino was sure that they were free from the flying-fish threat, he stood up and looked around. The castle was finally just a short walk distance away from them. He started walking to the castle’s direction, followed by his brother’s careful steps behind him.
It didn’t take too much time for them to reach the gate of the castle. A guard was in front of the gate. He was alone, unlike on the other castle where the guards were on a group. Although, like any other guards they had met, this one also stopped them when they was about to enter the gate.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the guard asked them.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Nino returned the question mockingly.
“My name is Okamoto Keito and I am the guard of this castle,” he answered seriously.
“Well my name is Nino, and this is my brother, Masaki,” Nino pointed to his side, “and we’re plumbers. We’re called by your king to fix the plumbings on this castle,” Nino used their foolproof reason.
“My king never called for any plumbers, you’re lying,” the guard pointed his spear to them.
“Look! Flying mushrooms!” Masaki suddenly exclaimed.
The guard looked up, distracted by Masaki’s sudden words. Nino saw it and used the chance to pulled the spear from the guard’s grip and hit him with the back of it. The guard fell down to the ground right away, unconscious.
“I can’t believe someone actually fell for that,” Nino looked at Masaki, amused.
Masaki just grinned in response.
They walked inside the castle freely after knocking down the guard. Heading to the main building to confront the king, they were surprised when they were ambushed by two men with scary faces. Or more likely, cute faces with trying-to-be-scary expressions.
“Who are you guys and what are you doing here?” one of them, the smaller one from the two, asked them.
Nino groaned on hearing that question.
“Dude, wouldn’t it be more polite of you if you start it by introducing yourselves first?” Nino said exasperatedly.
The two men in front of them exchanged glances then turned their faces back to them.
“What do you mean you don’t know us?” the taller of the two spoke with a raised tone.
“And what are you doing in our castle anyway?” the shorter one added.
It was Nino and Masaki’s turn to exchange glances then. The two men in front of them looked pretty intimidating, and after seeing Masaki’s pleading eyes, Nino decided to go for a more diplomatic approach.
“I’m terribly sorry for being rude, but I really have no idea who you guys are. But here, I am Nino, this is my brother Masaki, we’re plumbers, and we’re here to,” Nino swallowed, “save Princess Peach,” he decided to tell them directly.
The two men seemed startled on the mention of Princess Peach. They threw a synchronized “what?!” then put their hand on their belts. Nino stole a quick glance and he saw the handle of a sword on each of their belts.
“I’m Takaki, one of the most wanted thieves in this kingdom,” the taller man introduced himself.
“And I’m Yamada Ryosuke,” the shorter man added.
“He looks like the queen who burst out crying from earlier, don’t you think?” Masaki whispered to Nino.
Nino shushed him immediately, although he also agreed on what Masaki said. They looked so alike it was ridiculous.
“Your Princess Peach is with our king, Yaotome Hikaru,” Takaki explained, “but if you want to meet them, you have to get through us first,” he drew his sword. Yamada followed suit.
Nino went panic and drew the only weapon he always had with him. His firm, strong, and trustworthy wrench. He dodged to the side when Takaki and Yamada attacked, pulling his brother with him. Nino didn’t see it when Masaki fished something from his rucksack and hit it to his body. All he knew was he suddenly felt powerful and strong. And invincible.
Nino stood up firmly again when both men were coming with their swords. He caught one sword with his wrench when Takaki swung it, then moved his wrench to the right, making the sword fell with a loud clank. Then he went straight to Yamada with his wrench and attacked him. He dodged Yamada’s sword and kicked his balls. Yamada dropped his sword in agony, and Nino hit Yamada’s head with his wrench. Yamada jerked up for a second, then lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Meanwhile Masaki was trying to distract Takaki by pointing out the flying mushrooms randomly. Takaki looked up to every direction Masaki pointed at first, but then he realized that he was being fooled and started to chase Masaki. His sword was already gripped firmly in his hand again.
Nino saw that and took the chance that Takaki was distracted by chasing his brother to also chased him from behind, making three of them run around the room. Nino finally caught up Takaki’s speed when Masaki slowed down because of his tiredness. He swung his wrench hard to the back of Takaki’s head, making him fall to the ground like his comrade, unconscious.
“Come on, Masaki! We have to go fast!” Nino gestured Masaki to hurry and follow him to the main building of the castle.
Masaki followed Nino from behind as they went straight to the biggest building in the castle. The main building looked empty, not even a guard was seemed to be around.
Once they arrived at the main building, Nino carefully pushed the door in front of him. It made a small creaking sound and Nino almost jumped because of that but he kept going on. Nino held his wrench more tightly in his hand while Masaki held his rucksack.
The door was opened completely and they walked in. Their eyes almost popped out when they saw what was going on inside. There was a long table in the middle of the room. Princess Peach was sitting on one end of it, and there was a man sitting on the other end. They seemed to be engrossed in a serious conversation.
Nino walked closer to them since it seemed like none of them realized their presence. He kept moving until he could hear their conversation.
“Right? And I looove your dress very much! They won’t let me wear one around, though, I wonder why,” the man said to Princess Peach.
“You’re the king, of course they won’t let you wear one,” Princess Peach replied with a laugh.
The man, whom Nino suspected to be the king named Yaotome that the guards were talking about, giggled when he heard Princess Peach’s answer.
“Well I am the king, but they won’t even let me wear dress even when I’m doing nothing in here,” Yaotome mumbled, “but I reaaaally want to wear dress, Peach, I want to look pretty!” he sported a pout.
Nino raised his brow. He wasn’t sure that this was what he had expected. He cleared his throat to try to get the attention of both Princess Peach and King Yaotome.
King Yaotome heard that and jerked his head on Nino’s direction.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?!” he asked with a deep, manly voice, completely different than the voice he used before.
“Here we go again,” Nino grunted. He felt sick of the question already. He took a deep breath before answering, “my name is Nino and this is my brother Masaki, we are from the Mushroom Kingdom.”
“Mushroom Kingdom?” Princess Peach cut him, “so I guess you’re here to bring me home?”
“Yees?” Nino found himself unsure of his own answer.
“Well, Hikaru kun, it’s been fun,” Princess Peach stood up, “but I guess it’s time for me to go home.”
“Ah, I see,” Yaotome stood up too, getting ready to escort Princess Peach outside.
Nino and Masaki looked at each other, dumbfounded. What does that mean?
“You could always send me letters after this, Hikaru kun. I would love to hear from you sometimes. And taking this,” Princess Peach circled her finger on the guys before them, “into account, seems like I won’t be able to visit anytime soon.”
“I see that very well,” Yaotome nodded, “I’ll tell Okubo san to lift the curses up and restore the condition of your kingdom, then,” he pulled Princess Peach’s hand to kiss it.
“Yes, please,” Princess Peach said with a smile, “also, I believe these men right here might have knocked your guards down, do we need to do something about that?”
Yaotome scoffed, “that’s fine, those idiots have super self-healing. They’ll be okay soon,” he waved his hand.
“Well then,” Princess Peach turned his body to Nino and Masaki’s direction, “young men,” she bowed, “please take me home.”
Nino and Masaki bowed too in response although they still hadn’t grasped what’s going on.
“Your carriage is ready, Princess,” Yaotome said, “you can use it for the journey home.”
“Thank you very much for the kindness, Hikaru kun,” Princess Peach replied, “let’s go, young men,” she gestured Nino and Masaki to follow her.
Nino and Masaki followed the princess, still dumbfounded, to the said carriage. They got in as Princess Peach bade Yaotome goodbye.
“Thank you very much for your help, Hikaru kun,” Princess Peach said again for the last time before got into the carriage.
“The pleasure is mine, Princess,” Yaotome waved his hand and the carriage departed to Mushroom Kingdom.
~*~
“I think I owe you guys some explanations,” Princess Peach broke the lingering awkward silence on the carriage.
Nino looked up to the princess’ face as if he was saying, ‘you don’t say, Princess?’
“First and foremost,” she started, “my actual name is Sho. Peach is just a name I normally use outside the castle because the name Sho is too manly for a princess name.”
“What?” Nino asked in surprise.
“Yeah,” she continued, “my father, the king, has been looking for a prince candidate to be married with me and prepared to be the future king. But I don’t like most of the guys he had brought along, and the rest of the guys don’t like me.”
Princess Peach, or Sho, as she had said, explained more about how he managed to make a plan to find himself a good man to be married with, and someone whom his father would agree on. She told the story on how he had met Yaotome Hikaru and his friends, and she liked his idea. She assured them. She herself had met Okubo san, who turned out to be a witch, and made her swear for her life that the people of Mushroom Kingdom would be all right even after they’d been cursed.
Nino listened to the whole story with his mouth gaped, still couldn’t believe himself. On the other hand, Masaki, who was sitting beside him, listened actively, sometimes nodding his head or exclaimed ‘Oh!’ when he found something amusing. Nino felt that something must be wrong but he couldn’t pinpoint what. They kept listening to Princess Sho’s story until they reached the gate of Mushroom Kingdom’s castle.
“Stay here for a while, okay, I need to say something to my parents first,” she said quickly when they reached inside the castle. She jumped of the carriage energetically, leaving puzzled Nino and Masaki inside.
“What do you think she’s up to?” Nino uttered his first words since they got in the carriage.
“Probably preparing your prize and everything,” Masaki answered with apparent amusement on his face.
Nino leaned back to his seat and sighed. The princess was beautiful, he had no doubt about it. She’s even more beautiful than how she looked in the picture, the one that made him fall in love instantly. However, Nino felt something was off with the princess, besides of her antics that just made the whole kingdom as stones. There was this annoying thing about the princess that he couldn’t say out loud.
Drowned in his thoughts, Nino didn’t see it when some guards came to escort them inside.
~*~
“Oh my God! My son! You’re back!” Queen Mao exclaimed in joy when she saw Sho walked into the room. She stumbled a bit when she ran down from the throne to embrace her son who was standing in the middle of the room.
King Jun looked like he tried his hardest to not follow his wife's actions. He was the king, after all, he couldn’t just burst out crying and run to hug his son in front of all his subordinates. He took a long, deep breath instead.
“Welcome home, son, we’ve been looking for you,” King Jun said after he was able to put his emotion in check.
“We’re really worried about you!” Queen Mao said, patting her son’s back after releasing him from the hug, “and where’s your savior? We need to reward him. Right, Jun?” she glanced over to the king.
“That’s correct,” King Jun affirmed, “why are they not here yet?”
“Before everything else, Mom, Dad,” Sho suddenly spoke, “I need to tell you that my savior had no idea that I’m a man and I want to keep it that way.”
“Eeeh? Why?” Queen Mao blurted out in surprise.
“I have my own reason, mother,” Sho took his mother’s hand and kissed the back of it to assure her.
“Are you sure?” King Jun asked, “he’s going to marry you. He has to know at least that, that you’re actually a man.”
“I’m sure, father,” Sho stated, “and I have a hunch that he’ll actually don’t mind.”
Queen Mao turned his head to look at his husband’s face. This was not what they planned for. They knew it was wrong when they had to declare that their “Princess” was missing and whoever saved “her” would get to marry “her” and be crowned king to be King Matsumoto Jun's successor. But they already had another plan in their minds, that they would tell whoever the savior that their Princess was actually a Prince and that they wouldn’t have to get married if the savior didn’t want to.
King Jun sighed. This is what happened when you have a son who was so fond of cross-dressing and the idea of being a princess, he thought, rubbing his temple. This is what happened, a headache, as he sat back down on his throne.
Queen Mao saw the frustration on her husband’s face and walked back to comfort him. King’s frustration usually didn’t lead to good things, so she had to do something before anything bad happen.
“My dear,” she said as she sat down on her throne beside the king’s, “I think it’s okay? You don’t have to worry.”
“Yeah? You think so? What if this- whoever this person is, the savior, find it out later that Sho’s a man after the marriage and run away because of that? You say it’s okay to have a king that will possibly run away when he see that his queen is actually a man?” King Jun replied sourly.
“Then let him run away and I’ll be the king,” Sho joined the conversation.
“Like hell you would,” King Jun scoffed.
“I would,” Sho answered almost too quickly. He had been keeping it within himself, but it had been a long time and he finally had the guts to say it out loud, “don’t you get it dad? I’ve been telling you that I would be king. It was you who kept pestering me with all those ‘king candidates’ of yours, which, sorry to say, were no good at all!”
King Jun almost stood up in anger but Queen Mao quickly held his hand in an attempt to calm him down.
“Because you said that you don’t want to marry a woman! How would this kingdom be without a queen?” King Jun asked angrily.
“I could be both king and queen. Problem solved,” Sho shrugged, “and I could make a petition or election to choose the next king after me so I don’t have to find a way to have kids on my own. Then everything is set.”
King Jun was baffled by that. It was the first time he heard his son said such thing about his future. His son surely had different vision as a king than he was, not to mention that his vision was really bizarre.
“It’s not as easy as that, young man,” King Jun warned his son. He was happy that he could finally hear something as serious as that coming from his son, but he was also worried.
“I know, and why should you care? I’d be the one who will have to go through that anyway, not you,” Sho argued.
“Just let him be, Jun,” Queen Mao squeezed King Jun’s hand. She had predicted this would happen. Sho had never been fond of the idea of the future that was planned out for him. She knew that he had always wanted something else.
King Jun took a deep breath and looked at his wife. She must have known this for long. If Sho hadn’t told them, then she must have found out some way. And seeing her, she seemed to have thought about this matter. He’d just talk with her later about it then. They had important guests waiting anyway.
“If that’s what you think then... Do as you please,” King Jun surrendered, “guards, bring them in.”
~*~
On the day of Nino and Princess Peach’s marriage, the whole kingdom was drowned in a celebration. The wedding ceremony was held on the castle, and some of the kingdom’s people were gathering outside the castle. They all wore their best clothes, celebrating the biggest event of the year. They brought presents for Nino and Princess Peach. They queued nicely outside the gate, waiting for it to be opened and for their chance to enter and give the happy couple their presents.
Some of the others who couldn’t join the celebration outside the castle were busy celebrating in front of their houses. Some celebrated in a group, some celebrated alone. Some celebrated on the field, some got out to the street and made a parade. Everyone was happy.
They had also decorated the houses and streets with all sorts of decoration for the special day. Colorful ribbons were seen above the streets. Pretty flowers were decorating the doors of houses. Some even painted mushrooms with rainbow color to put on in front of the house.
There was also cheerful music heard from one corner of the kingdom. The musicians of the kingdom had decided to join in the celebration too, apparently. They joined the parade on the street, making more people followed behind them with joy.
Meanwhile, inside the castle, Nino was waiting giddily on his room. He was already in his suit, all crisp and handsome. Masaki was there until a while ago, accompanying him as the best man, until he got called for something related to the ceremony Nino didn’t really understand what.
After waiting for what felt like forever, Nino was called to the chapel. They’re going to have the ceremony there. Nino walked with heart as light as a feather to meet the princess. His princess.
He watched in awe as Princess Peach, or Sho, as she said it was her real name, walked the aisle. She looked dazzling on her wedding dress. Her dress was pink, like her other dresses, but this one was exceptionally stunning. She looked gorgeous beyond words in that and Nino was baffled. He could only watch even when she finally stood beside him. Nino held his breath when the officiator began the ceremony. He glanced slightly to his side, seeking assurance that it was really happening.
~*~
Their wedding night was approaching after the long wedding day and Nino was so excited. He was tired after all the ceremonial stuffs and the things after that, where they received presents from people of the kingdom. He had to stand for more than four hours and had to put his best smiling face for all the people to see, of course he was tired. Sho didn’t look as tired, though. She seemed so excited on greeting those people. So pretty, so princess-like, Nino thought, exactly what made him feel excited about the night.
Nino turned the handle of the room’s door where he’s going to have his wedding night with the princess. His princess. She had gone to the room before him, saying something about ‘getting ready’. Although, when Nino entered the room, she was still in her wedding dress, sitting in front of the dressing table inside the room.
“Hey,” Nino called as he walked closer to the princess. He had closed the door behind him, repeatedly making sure that he’d locked it, about five times, before he approached her.
The princess turned her face to see Nino and smiled. He gestured Nino to come closer.
“Please sit on the bed, I have something to tell you first before anything else,” she said while smiling.
Nino felt like something punched his stomach. What is Sho going to talk about? That like her capture, this wedding was fake too? That she had decided that she didn’t really like Nino and wanted to call the marriage off? Is that even possible?
Sho saw the look on Nino’s eyes and said, “don’t worry, I won’t cancel the marriage,” like she was able to tell what Nino had been thinking. Well I won’t be the one canceling it, if ever, Sho continued inside his head.
Nino came and sat down on the bed like he was told to, still felt worried even though the princess had tried to convince him. What does one want to talk about on a wedding night? Couldn’t it have waited until the next day or later? It had to be something really serious if it couldn’t.
After Nino had sat down properly on the bed, looked all calm and comfortable, Sho started the conversation. Or the not conversation. He wiped the makeup off his face, showing Nino his real face, and when he was done with it, he pulled all his hair clips and took his wig off.
“Wait, what is this?” Nino asked with horror in his voice.
“Well, as you can see,” Sho put the wig down before facing Nino properly again and continued, “I’m actually a man.”
“You’re actually a what?!” Nino shouted, his face pale and his eyes as wide as a pair of saucers.
~*~
Nino sat on the bed alone, waiting for Sho to finish showering. It had been a month since their wedding day, a month since that dreadful night, as Nino had called it.
Nino was taken aback big time that night. Of course, who wouldn’t have when he was suddenly told that the princess he just married was actually a prince? He refused to sleep on the same bed with Sho after that particular undesired event, heading off to Masaki’s room in the middle of the night to seek for refuge. He ended up pestering Masaki after that, grumbling and ranting on how he hadn’t seen it before. When Masaki admitted that he had actually seen it coming, he stopped talking to Masaki at all.
It wasn’t the fact that Sho was a man that disturbed Nino the most, it was the fact that Sho was a man and Nino still felt the same way to him after he knew it. It’s not normal, he told Masaki the day after. It’s not normal to fall for a person thinking that he was a woman and still feel the same after knowing that he was a man, Nino said. Masaki just replied to that saying ‘what if it wasn’t?’ And Nino shut up again, couldn’t find the answer to that question. Yeah, what’s so wrong if it’s not normal anyway, he thought to himself.
It took a week for Nino to finally gave in and talked to Sho again. By that time Sho was already prepared to take over the kingdom as king, assuming that Nino wouldn’t be back after being deceived in that way. Although Sho was actually disappointed, if he had to admit it out loud. And sad. He had been attracted to Nino since he saw him walking in to the castle to save him, and he trusted him enough to come as he was in front of him after their marriage was held. Apparently, Nino wasn’t different from other men he’d met that ran away after knowing that he was a man. It of course surprised him in a delightful manner when Nino came to him and said that he wouldn’t mind. He wouldn’t mind even if Sho was a man, he loved him anyway. Sho felt as if he was the luckiest man in the world that day.
It had been three weeks after that, Nino had finally agreed to have their long-postponed wedding night. He didn’t want to do it at first, because however he felt towards Sho, it still came out wrong in his mind if he had to do it with him. He had no idea how he was supposed to do it with a man anyway.
The sound of a door’s lock being opened snapped Nino out of his daydream. This is it, he thought. Ready or not, this is going to be it, he sat up more straightly as he waited for Sho to get out of the bathroom in expectation. It had felt like forever when Sho peeked out of the bathroom.
“Oh you’re still there,” he said in relief, “I heard nothing outside and I thought you have run away again.”
Nino chuckled nervously on that, and stopped completely when he saw Sho.
Standing in front of the bathroom door.
In a woman’s lingerie.
A pink set of a woman’s lingerie.
Pink.
And frilly.
“You don’t like it?” Sho asked, worried to see Nino froze on the bed with shock on his face as Sho walked closer to the bed.
Nino gaped and swallowed, his mouth suddenly felt so dry.
“You look... pretty,” Nino breathed out finally.
“I’m always pretty, I’m the prettiest,” Sho replied with a cute giggle.
“Come here,” Nino scooted on the bed to give space for Sho to sit in.
And Sho did as he was told.
From: inaudible_d
Part 1
Nino ran and ran like his life was depended on it. Well, his life was depended on it, it’s not every day that you found out that a king liked you. Nino ran faster when his brain tickled him with a possibility that the king wanted him to be his queen. He kept running and running, not caring if the guards were still chasing them or not. He kept going forward until he found an obstacle for both him and his brother, a lake so broad it almost seemed like the ocean.
“Wait. I think I have seen something like this before,” Masaki looked around him, astonished. This couldn’t be right, he thought, as he pulled the map out of his rucksack.
“What’s wrong?” Nino asked a bit breathlessly. He didn’t even realize that he had run out of breath while running away.
Masaki observed the map on his hand seriously, pointing the lake with his hand then back to the map again, then looked around then back to the map again. He pointed one point on the map then looked around again.
“There it is! That must be it!” he saw something in a distance and walked that way.
Nino followed him. He didn’t quite understand what Masaki was doing, but he hoped that it was something good. It had to be something good.
Masaki stopped in front of a huge tree and pointed it, then he looked around and a smile suddenly showed up on his face. He turned his head around to look for Nino and gestured Nino to come over when he saw him.
“What do you find?” Nino asked impatiently.
“Princess Peach is across this lake,” Masaki answered, his smile had turned into grin.
“How do you know?” Nino found himself still doubtful about his brother.
“The map,” Masaki waved it in front of Nino, “it said that the castle is across a great lake. We have to take the stone bridge that can be found sixteen steps from the biggest tree around.”
Nino looked at the tree and around. Masaki was right, the tree was the biggest around. He then looked at the stone bridge not so far away from them.
“That bridge?” Nino pointed.
Masaki nodded and started walking from the tree to the bridge.
“It’s exactly sixteen steps!” he exclaimed and clapped his hands happily when he reached the bridge.
Nino followed him, counted his own steps. It was indeed exactly sixteen steps. Although it’s a bit weird since his brother’s steps were wider than his. Probably his brother took short steps, he decided.
“We have to go across this bridge,” Masaki explained, “there will be obstacles, the map said, although I’m not sure what.”
“Let’s just find out,” Nino stepped on the bridge.
Masaki followed his brother closely behind, didn’t want to be left. He felt worried because the map said that there would be some obstacle that they would meet on the way. Okubo san didn’t mention anything about the river though. The only thing Masaki remembered was she said that they better stay away from the lake and found another route instead.
There was no other route that they could take, Masaki argued in his head. He kept his eyes glued on his brother’s back while observing their surrounding. The stone bridge looked completely fine actually, but he still felt worried because of Okubo san’s words. Just what did she mean when she told him to stay away from the bridge?
The answer showed up almost instantly in front of them. Nino suddenly stopped on his track, making Masaki stop too. Nino made an annoyed sound. Masaki looked to the track in front of them. The bridge was broken in the middle, there was nothing but water in front of them, and other end of the bridge was on quite a distance.
“I think we have to swim across this,” Nino made a decision and lowered himself to the water.
“Watch out!” Masaki exclaimed, pointed at a small creature that looked like squid floating near the bridge’s end.
“Whoops, here comes another weird creature,” Nino stood back up, “they don’t look really dangerous, though, and slow.”
“Look like so,” Masaki agreed, “so we swim quickly?”
“We swim quickly,” Nino agreed and jumped to the water.
They swam, made some maneuver when needed to avoid the squids which happened to start chasing them once they saw them. Nino and Masaki swam faster and faster, and finally they made it to the other end of the bridge. They got out of the water and exchanged looks of relief.
The castle was already visible from where they were right then, and Nino felt a wave of spirit rushing through his blood. He stood up and walked fast on the stone bridge, forgot that he had to keep his awareness of the surroundings. Nino didn’t see it when a flying fish jumped out of the water beside the bridge and almost hit him. All he knew was Masaki suddenly pushed him until he was lying, face down, on the bridge.
“What was that for?” he scolded his brother.
“There was a flying fish!” Masaki told him.
“What? Stop with the flying creature joke!” Nino scolded Masaki more.
“I’m not joking! Look!” Masaki pointed above them.
Nino looked up, and this time, Masaki was right. There was a fish flying above them. That fish seemed to jump from the right side of the bridge to the left side.
“Whoa that’s dangerous,” Nino commented.
They finally made it to the lakeside by crawling their way on the bridge. Once Nino was sure that they were free from the flying-fish threat, he stood up and looked around. The castle was finally just a short walk distance away from them. He started walking to the castle’s direction, followed by his brother’s careful steps behind him.
It didn’t take too much time for them to reach the gate of the castle. A guard was in front of the gate. He was alone, unlike on the other castle where the guards were on a group. Although, like any other guards they had met, this one also stopped them when they was about to enter the gate.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the guard asked them.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Nino returned the question mockingly.
“My name is Okamoto Keito and I am the guard of this castle,” he answered seriously.
“Well my name is Nino, and this is my brother, Masaki,” Nino pointed to his side, “and we’re plumbers. We’re called by your king to fix the plumbings on this castle,” Nino used their foolproof reason.
“My king never called for any plumbers, you’re lying,” the guard pointed his spear to them.
“Look! Flying mushrooms!” Masaki suddenly exclaimed.
The guard looked up, distracted by Masaki’s sudden words. Nino saw it and used the chance to pulled the spear from the guard’s grip and hit him with the back of it. The guard fell down to the ground right away, unconscious.
“I can’t believe someone actually fell for that,” Nino looked at Masaki, amused.
Masaki just grinned in response.
They walked inside the castle freely after knocking down the guard. Heading to the main building to confront the king, they were surprised when they were ambushed by two men with scary faces. Or more likely, cute faces with trying-to-be-scary expressions.
“Who are you guys and what are you doing here?” one of them, the smaller one from the two, asked them.
Nino groaned on hearing that question.
“Dude, wouldn’t it be more polite of you if you start it by introducing yourselves first?” Nino said exasperatedly.
The two men in front of them exchanged glances then turned their faces back to them.
“What do you mean you don’t know us?” the taller of the two spoke with a raised tone.
“And what are you doing in our castle anyway?” the shorter one added.
It was Nino and Masaki’s turn to exchange glances then. The two men in front of them looked pretty intimidating, and after seeing Masaki’s pleading eyes, Nino decided to go for a more diplomatic approach.
“I’m terribly sorry for being rude, but I really have no idea who you guys are. But here, I am Nino, this is my brother Masaki, we’re plumbers, and we’re here to,” Nino swallowed, “save Princess Peach,” he decided to tell them directly.
The two men seemed startled on the mention of Princess Peach. They threw a synchronized “what?!” then put their hand on their belts. Nino stole a quick glance and he saw the handle of a sword on each of their belts.
“I’m Takaki, one of the most wanted thieves in this kingdom,” the taller man introduced himself.
“And I’m Yamada Ryosuke,” the shorter man added.
“He looks like the queen who burst out crying from earlier, don’t you think?” Masaki whispered to Nino.
Nino shushed him immediately, although he also agreed on what Masaki said. They looked so alike it was ridiculous.
“Your Princess Peach is with our king, Yaotome Hikaru,” Takaki explained, “but if you want to meet them, you have to get through us first,” he drew his sword. Yamada followed suit.
Nino went panic and drew the only weapon he always had with him. His firm, strong, and trustworthy wrench. He dodged to the side when Takaki and Yamada attacked, pulling his brother with him. Nino didn’t see it when Masaki fished something from his rucksack and hit it to his body. All he knew was he suddenly felt powerful and strong. And invincible.
Nino stood up firmly again when both men were coming with their swords. He caught one sword with his wrench when Takaki swung it, then moved his wrench to the right, making the sword fell with a loud clank. Then he went straight to Yamada with his wrench and attacked him. He dodged Yamada’s sword and kicked his balls. Yamada dropped his sword in agony, and Nino hit Yamada’s head with his wrench. Yamada jerked up for a second, then lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Meanwhile Masaki was trying to distract Takaki by pointing out the flying mushrooms randomly. Takaki looked up to every direction Masaki pointed at first, but then he realized that he was being fooled and started to chase Masaki. His sword was already gripped firmly in his hand again.
Nino saw that and took the chance that Takaki was distracted by chasing his brother to also chased him from behind, making three of them run around the room. Nino finally caught up Takaki’s speed when Masaki slowed down because of his tiredness. He swung his wrench hard to the back of Takaki’s head, making him fall to the ground like his comrade, unconscious.
“Come on, Masaki! We have to go fast!” Nino gestured Masaki to hurry and follow him to the main building of the castle.
Masaki followed Nino from behind as they went straight to the biggest building in the castle. The main building looked empty, not even a guard was seemed to be around.
Once they arrived at the main building, Nino carefully pushed the door in front of him. It made a small creaking sound and Nino almost jumped because of that but he kept going on. Nino held his wrench more tightly in his hand while Masaki held his rucksack.
The door was opened completely and they walked in. Their eyes almost popped out when they saw what was going on inside. There was a long table in the middle of the room. Princess Peach was sitting on one end of it, and there was a man sitting on the other end. They seemed to be engrossed in a serious conversation.
Nino walked closer to them since it seemed like none of them realized their presence. He kept moving until he could hear their conversation.
“Right? And I looove your dress very much! They won’t let me wear one around, though, I wonder why,” the man said to Princess Peach.
“You’re the king, of course they won’t let you wear one,” Princess Peach replied with a laugh.
The man, whom Nino suspected to be the king named Yaotome that the guards were talking about, giggled when he heard Princess Peach’s answer.
“Well I am the king, but they won’t even let me wear dress even when I’m doing nothing in here,” Yaotome mumbled, “but I reaaaally want to wear dress, Peach, I want to look pretty!” he sported a pout.
Nino raised his brow. He wasn’t sure that this was what he had expected. He cleared his throat to try to get the attention of both Princess Peach and King Yaotome.
King Yaotome heard that and jerked his head on Nino’s direction.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?!” he asked with a deep, manly voice, completely different than the voice he used before.
“Here we go again,” Nino grunted. He felt sick of the question already. He took a deep breath before answering, “my name is Nino and this is my brother Masaki, we are from the Mushroom Kingdom.”
“Mushroom Kingdom?” Princess Peach cut him, “so I guess you’re here to bring me home?”
“Yees?” Nino found himself unsure of his own answer.
“Well, Hikaru kun, it’s been fun,” Princess Peach stood up, “but I guess it’s time for me to go home.”
“Ah, I see,” Yaotome stood up too, getting ready to escort Princess Peach outside.
Nino and Masaki looked at each other, dumbfounded. What does that mean?
“You could always send me letters after this, Hikaru kun. I would love to hear from you sometimes. And taking this,” Princess Peach circled her finger on the guys before them, “into account, seems like I won’t be able to visit anytime soon.”
“I see that very well,” Yaotome nodded, “I’ll tell Okubo san to lift the curses up and restore the condition of your kingdom, then,” he pulled Princess Peach’s hand to kiss it.
“Yes, please,” Princess Peach said with a smile, “also, I believe these men right here might have knocked your guards down, do we need to do something about that?”
Yaotome scoffed, “that’s fine, those idiots have super self-healing. They’ll be okay soon,” he waved his hand.
“Well then,” Princess Peach turned his body to Nino and Masaki’s direction, “young men,” she bowed, “please take me home.”
Nino and Masaki bowed too in response although they still hadn’t grasped what’s going on.
“Your carriage is ready, Princess,” Yaotome said, “you can use it for the journey home.”
“Thank you very much for the kindness, Hikaru kun,” Princess Peach replied, “let’s go, young men,” she gestured Nino and Masaki to follow her.
Nino and Masaki followed the princess, still dumbfounded, to the said carriage. They got in as Princess Peach bade Yaotome goodbye.
“Thank you very much for your help, Hikaru kun,” Princess Peach said again for the last time before got into the carriage.
“The pleasure is mine, Princess,” Yaotome waved his hand and the carriage departed to Mushroom Kingdom.
~*~
“I think I owe you guys some explanations,” Princess Peach broke the lingering awkward silence on the carriage.
Nino looked up to the princess’ face as if he was saying, ‘you don’t say, Princess?’
“First and foremost,” she started, “my actual name is Sho. Peach is just a name I normally use outside the castle because the name Sho is too manly for a princess name.”
“What?” Nino asked in surprise.
“Yeah,” she continued, “my father, the king, has been looking for a prince candidate to be married with me and prepared to be the future king. But I don’t like most of the guys he had brought along, and the rest of the guys don’t like me.”
Princess Peach, or Sho, as she had said, explained more about how he managed to make a plan to find himself a good man to be married with, and someone whom his father would agree on. She told the story on how he had met Yaotome Hikaru and his friends, and she liked his idea. She assured them. She herself had met Okubo san, who turned out to be a witch, and made her swear for her life that the people of Mushroom Kingdom would be all right even after they’d been cursed.
Nino listened to the whole story with his mouth gaped, still couldn’t believe himself. On the other hand, Masaki, who was sitting beside him, listened actively, sometimes nodding his head or exclaimed ‘Oh!’ when he found something amusing. Nino felt that something must be wrong but he couldn’t pinpoint what. They kept listening to Princess Sho’s story until they reached the gate of Mushroom Kingdom’s castle.
“Stay here for a while, okay, I need to say something to my parents first,” she said quickly when they reached inside the castle. She jumped of the carriage energetically, leaving puzzled Nino and Masaki inside.
“What do you think she’s up to?” Nino uttered his first words since they got in the carriage.
“Probably preparing your prize and everything,” Masaki answered with apparent amusement on his face.
Nino leaned back to his seat and sighed. The princess was beautiful, he had no doubt about it. She’s even more beautiful than how she looked in the picture, the one that made him fall in love instantly. However, Nino felt something was off with the princess, besides of her antics that just made the whole kingdom as stones. There was this annoying thing about the princess that he couldn’t say out loud.
Drowned in his thoughts, Nino didn’t see it when some guards came to escort them inside.
~*~
“Oh my God! My son! You’re back!” Queen Mao exclaimed in joy when she saw Sho walked into the room. She stumbled a bit when she ran down from the throne to embrace her son who was standing in the middle of the room.
King Jun looked like he tried his hardest to not follow his wife's actions. He was the king, after all, he couldn’t just burst out crying and run to hug his son in front of all his subordinates. He took a long, deep breath instead.
“Welcome home, son, we’ve been looking for you,” King Jun said after he was able to put his emotion in check.
“We’re really worried about you!” Queen Mao said, patting her son’s back after releasing him from the hug, “and where’s your savior? We need to reward him. Right, Jun?” she glanced over to the king.
“That’s correct,” King Jun affirmed, “why are they not here yet?”
“Before everything else, Mom, Dad,” Sho suddenly spoke, “I need to tell you that my savior had no idea that I’m a man and I want to keep it that way.”
“Eeeh? Why?” Queen Mao blurted out in surprise.
“I have my own reason, mother,” Sho took his mother’s hand and kissed the back of it to assure her.
“Are you sure?” King Jun asked, “he’s going to marry you. He has to know at least that, that you’re actually a man.”
“I’m sure, father,” Sho stated, “and I have a hunch that he’ll actually don’t mind.”
Queen Mao turned his head to look at his husband’s face. This was not what they planned for. They knew it was wrong when they had to declare that their “Princess” was missing and whoever saved “her” would get to marry “her” and be crowned king to be King Matsumoto Jun's successor. But they already had another plan in their minds, that they would tell whoever the savior that their Princess was actually a Prince and that they wouldn’t have to get married if the savior didn’t want to.
King Jun sighed. This is what happened when you have a son who was so fond of cross-dressing and the idea of being a princess, he thought, rubbing his temple. This is what happened, a headache, as he sat back down on his throne.
Queen Mao saw the frustration on her husband’s face and walked back to comfort him. King’s frustration usually didn’t lead to good things, so she had to do something before anything bad happen.
“My dear,” she said as she sat down on her throne beside the king’s, “I think it’s okay? You don’t have to worry.”
“Yeah? You think so? What if this- whoever this person is, the savior, find it out later that Sho’s a man after the marriage and run away because of that? You say it’s okay to have a king that will possibly run away when he see that his queen is actually a man?” King Jun replied sourly.
“Then let him run away and I’ll be the king,” Sho joined the conversation.
“Like hell you would,” King Jun scoffed.
“I would,” Sho answered almost too quickly. He had been keeping it within himself, but it had been a long time and he finally had the guts to say it out loud, “don’t you get it dad? I’ve been telling you that I would be king. It was you who kept pestering me with all those ‘king candidates’ of yours, which, sorry to say, were no good at all!”
King Jun almost stood up in anger but Queen Mao quickly held his hand in an attempt to calm him down.
“Because you said that you don’t want to marry a woman! How would this kingdom be without a queen?” King Jun asked angrily.
“I could be both king and queen. Problem solved,” Sho shrugged, “and I could make a petition or election to choose the next king after me so I don’t have to find a way to have kids on my own. Then everything is set.”
King Jun was baffled by that. It was the first time he heard his son said such thing about his future. His son surely had different vision as a king than he was, not to mention that his vision was really bizarre.
“It’s not as easy as that, young man,” King Jun warned his son. He was happy that he could finally hear something as serious as that coming from his son, but he was also worried.
“I know, and why should you care? I’d be the one who will have to go through that anyway, not you,” Sho argued.
“Just let him be, Jun,” Queen Mao squeezed King Jun’s hand. She had predicted this would happen. Sho had never been fond of the idea of the future that was planned out for him. She knew that he had always wanted something else.
King Jun took a deep breath and looked at his wife. She must have known this for long. If Sho hadn’t told them, then she must have found out some way. And seeing her, she seemed to have thought about this matter. He’d just talk with her later about it then. They had important guests waiting anyway.
“If that’s what you think then... Do as you please,” King Jun surrendered, “guards, bring them in.”
~*~
On the day of Nino and Princess Peach’s marriage, the whole kingdom was drowned in a celebration. The wedding ceremony was held on the castle, and some of the kingdom’s people were gathering outside the castle. They all wore their best clothes, celebrating the biggest event of the year. They brought presents for Nino and Princess Peach. They queued nicely outside the gate, waiting for it to be opened and for their chance to enter and give the happy couple their presents.
Some of the others who couldn’t join the celebration outside the castle were busy celebrating in front of their houses. Some celebrated in a group, some celebrated alone. Some celebrated on the field, some got out to the street and made a parade. Everyone was happy.
They had also decorated the houses and streets with all sorts of decoration for the special day. Colorful ribbons were seen above the streets. Pretty flowers were decorating the doors of houses. Some even painted mushrooms with rainbow color to put on in front of the house.
There was also cheerful music heard from one corner of the kingdom. The musicians of the kingdom had decided to join in the celebration too, apparently. They joined the parade on the street, making more people followed behind them with joy.
Meanwhile, inside the castle, Nino was waiting giddily on his room. He was already in his suit, all crisp and handsome. Masaki was there until a while ago, accompanying him as the best man, until he got called for something related to the ceremony Nino didn’t really understand what.
After waiting for what felt like forever, Nino was called to the chapel. They’re going to have the ceremony there. Nino walked with heart as light as a feather to meet the princess. His princess.
He watched in awe as Princess Peach, or Sho, as she said it was her real name, walked the aisle. She looked dazzling on her wedding dress. Her dress was pink, like her other dresses, but this one was exceptionally stunning. She looked gorgeous beyond words in that and Nino was baffled. He could only watch even when she finally stood beside him. Nino held his breath when the officiator began the ceremony. He glanced slightly to his side, seeking assurance that it was really happening.
~*~
Their wedding night was approaching after the long wedding day and Nino was so excited. He was tired after all the ceremonial stuffs and the things after that, where they received presents from people of the kingdom. He had to stand for more than four hours and had to put his best smiling face for all the people to see, of course he was tired. Sho didn’t look as tired, though. She seemed so excited on greeting those people. So pretty, so princess-like, Nino thought, exactly what made him feel excited about the night.
Nino turned the handle of the room’s door where he’s going to have his wedding night with the princess. His princess. She had gone to the room before him, saying something about ‘getting ready’. Although, when Nino entered the room, she was still in her wedding dress, sitting in front of the dressing table inside the room.
“Hey,” Nino called as he walked closer to the princess. He had closed the door behind him, repeatedly making sure that he’d locked it, about five times, before he approached her.
The princess turned her face to see Nino and smiled. He gestured Nino to come closer.
“Please sit on the bed, I have something to tell you first before anything else,” she said while smiling.
Nino felt like something punched his stomach. What is Sho going to talk about? That like her capture, this wedding was fake too? That she had decided that she didn’t really like Nino and wanted to call the marriage off? Is that even possible?
Sho saw the look on Nino’s eyes and said, “don’t worry, I won’t cancel the marriage,” like she was able to tell what Nino had been thinking. Well I won’t be the one canceling it, if ever, Sho continued inside his head.
Nino came and sat down on the bed like he was told to, still felt worried even though the princess had tried to convince him. What does one want to talk about on a wedding night? Couldn’t it have waited until the next day or later? It had to be something really serious if it couldn’t.
After Nino had sat down properly on the bed, looked all calm and comfortable, Sho started the conversation. Or the not conversation. He wiped the makeup off his face, showing Nino his real face, and when he was done with it, he pulled all his hair clips and took his wig off.
“Wait, what is this?” Nino asked with horror in his voice.
“Well, as you can see,” Sho put the wig down before facing Nino properly again and continued, “I’m actually a man.”
“You’re actually a what?!” Nino shouted, his face pale and his eyes as wide as a pair of saucers.
~*~
Nino sat on the bed alone, waiting for Sho to finish showering. It had been a month since their wedding day, a month since that dreadful night, as Nino had called it.
Nino was taken aback big time that night. Of course, who wouldn’t have when he was suddenly told that the princess he just married was actually a prince? He refused to sleep on the same bed with Sho after that particular undesired event, heading off to Masaki’s room in the middle of the night to seek for refuge. He ended up pestering Masaki after that, grumbling and ranting on how he hadn’t seen it before. When Masaki admitted that he had actually seen it coming, he stopped talking to Masaki at all.
It wasn’t the fact that Sho was a man that disturbed Nino the most, it was the fact that Sho was a man and Nino still felt the same way to him after he knew it. It’s not normal, he told Masaki the day after. It’s not normal to fall for a person thinking that he was a woman and still feel the same after knowing that he was a man, Nino said. Masaki just replied to that saying ‘what if it wasn’t?’ And Nino shut up again, couldn’t find the answer to that question. Yeah, what’s so wrong if it’s not normal anyway, he thought to himself.
It took a week for Nino to finally gave in and talked to Sho again. By that time Sho was already prepared to take over the kingdom as king, assuming that Nino wouldn’t be back after being deceived in that way. Although Sho was actually disappointed, if he had to admit it out loud. And sad. He had been attracted to Nino since he saw him walking in to the castle to save him, and he trusted him enough to come as he was in front of him after their marriage was held. Apparently, Nino wasn’t different from other men he’d met that ran away after knowing that he was a man. It of course surprised him in a delightful manner when Nino came to him and said that he wouldn’t mind. He wouldn’t mind even if Sho was a man, he loved him anyway. Sho felt as if he was the luckiest man in the world that day.
It had been three weeks after that, Nino had finally agreed to have their long-postponed wedding night. He didn’t want to do it at first, because however he felt towards Sho, it still came out wrong in his mind if he had to do it with him. He had no idea how he was supposed to do it with a man anyway.
The sound of a door’s lock being opened snapped Nino out of his daydream. This is it, he thought. Ready or not, this is going to be it, he sat up more straightly as he waited for Sho to get out of the bathroom in expectation. It had felt like forever when Sho peeked out of the bathroom.
“Oh you’re still there,” he said in relief, “I heard nothing outside and I thought you have run away again.”
Nino chuckled nervously on that, and stopped completely when he saw Sho.
Standing in front of the bathroom door.
In a woman’s lingerie.
A pink set of a woman’s lingerie.
Pink.
And frilly.
“You don’t like it?” Sho asked, worried to see Nino froze on the bed with shock on his face as Sho walked closer to the bed.
Nino gaped and swallowed, his mouth suddenly felt so dry.
“You look... pretty,” Nino breathed out finally.
“I’m always pretty, I’m the prettiest,” Sho replied with a cute giggle.
“Come here,” Nino scooted on the bed to give space for Sho to sit in.
And Sho did as he was told.