The Little Prince [Chapter 1]
Title: The Little Prince
Author: Masuhisa
Pairing: Matsumiya, Sakumiya, Aimiya, Ohmiya
Summary: Yamada Taro is the son of an extremely poor couple, and has to work extremely hard to feed his family. But everything changes when his parents admit that he was adopted, and his real family finally found him after 18 years.
Disclaimer: Don’t own.
Chapter 1:
The posh car which Taro never dreamed of seeing up close not to mention ride in pulled up too soon for Taro’s liking. As instructed, Taro stayed put as Nishida exited the car from his side. Not long later, the door on his side opened, by Nishida who was gesturing for him to exit.
Timidly, Taro got out, only to receive the shock of his life. Taro looked exactly like a shocked statue as he took in the magnificent sight of a castle standing right in front of him. It was as if he had stepped into a book, for the castle in front of him was so grand, Taro couldn’t believe that it existed in real life. The castle looked a lot like the one at Disney Land, except it was more modern looking and there was a huge garden surrounding it.
“Young master, this way,” gestured Nishida.
Taro took a huge gulp. He had been too busy gawking at the castle that he had completely missed the long red carpet in front of him. But the red carpet wasn’t what scared him the most; it was the two long lines of people, which Taro assumed were security guards, lining the red carpet all the way to the house.
Hesitantly, Taro took a step forward. Taking a deep breath, Taro continued down the seemingly endless red carpet with Nishida by his side. The walk to the castle was pretty long, but to the stunned Taro, everything seemed to have happened in a blink of an eye. The next thing he knew, he was standing in the lobby of the castle, with yet another two rows of people, this time maids and butlers, lining his path.
Taro was about to follow Nishida, when his eyes caught something. It was a framed picture hung against the wall several meters in front of him. If he weren’t mistaken, the man in the picture looked exactly like him if not slightly older. But Taro had no time to think about that picture, for Nishida dragged him along.
Soon, Taro found himself walking down a long corridor. Thankfully, there weren’t anybody lining his path, making Taro feel more at ease. That was until someone else showed up.
“Good evening, Master Jun,” greeted Nishida, bowing deeply to a man who looked no older than Taro himself.
“Good evening, Nishida,” replied the man named Jun. Even though he was talking to Nishida, that Jun person had his eyes fixed on Taro, making the smaller man feel so awkward. Leaning down until he was Taro’s height and right in his face, he said “Is this the supposed long lost Ninomiya Kazunari?”
“We can’t confirm anything until Lord Ninomiya sees him,” replied Nishida calmly.
“I see. Better confirm that he’s a fake soon. We won’t want people like him intruding into our lives, would we?”
People like him?! Introducing into our lives?! Taro was starting to feel rather annoyed with his man. Weren’t they the ones who brought him here? He really didn’t have a say in the matter, so how dare he say that he was the one intruding into their lives.
“Master Jun, Lord Ninomiya is waiting,” said Nishida, a hint of urgency in his voice.
“I shan’t disturb you then,” replied Jun coolly. He straightened himself but not before giving Taro a smirk which sent shivers down his spine. Jun walked off. However, he was standing right in front of Taro. So when he did, he brushed past Taro, his more muscular shoulder hitting into Taro’s small frame, pushing him to the side.
Taro stumbled and was about to take out his frustration on Jun’s retreating back when Nishida hurried him along.
“Nishida, who was that guy?” asked Taro, subconsciously clenching his fist.
“That was Master Matsumoto Jun, one of the four boys that were chosen to succeed the Ninomiya cooperation after Lord Ninomiya,” answered Nishida, “The other three are Sakurai Sho, Ohno Satoshi and Aiba Masaki. All four of them are related to the Ninomiya family, I think it’s better if Lord Ninomiya explains it himself,”
Taro nodded unsurely.
They came to the end of the corridor soon enough and Nishida knocked on a frosted glass door three times. Then, he opened it and escorted Taro inside. Seated on a huge, comfy looking sofa was an old man who looked like he was in his seventies. The overwhelming aura of superiority around him was starting to make Taro feel like running away. Running back home to that little house of his and tell himself that everything was a dream.
The old man looked at him from top to bottom. A smile then appeared on his worn face, “He looks exactly like Kazushi, doesn’t he, Nishida?”
“Yes, sir,”
“Kazunari,” began the old man, addressing him. He got up from the sofa, and with the help of a walking cane went up to Taro, took him by the hand and led him to the same sofa he had been sitting on earlier, “I finally found you. After eighteen long years of searching, I finally found you,”
“Are you sure I’m the Kazunari you’re looking for?” asked Taro hesitantly.
“Of course I’m sure! Nishida, show him the proof,”
“Yes, sir,” Nishida took out a remote control from his pockets and pointed towards a screen. A picture showing the same couple he saw in the picture in the lobby appeared, this time, they were carrying a baby.
“This is Master Kazunari when he was 6 months old,” started Nishida, pointing to the baby in the picture, “As you can see, he has a mole here on his chin, exactly like yours,”
“Kazunari,” sighed the old man, “It’s my fault you were abducted eighteen years ago. Eighteen years is a very long time, look how skinny you are! Those Yamadas must be starving you, the nerve of them!”
“No, they’ve been treating me really well,” Taro hastily added.
“If they did, then why are you rake-thin? I heard you even have to work part time and even fainted from exhaustion!” snapped Lord Ninomiya, “Nishida, help me get my lawyer…”
“No, don’t!” cried Taro. He knew that the Yamadas weren’t in any condition to fight a law suit, especially not with someone like his supposed grandfather, “they took me in! If they didn’t, I might not even be alive!”
The old man nodded to himself, “I see. Fine, I won’t pursue a law suit,”
Taro, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. There was a question he was dying to ask, but he wasn’t sure if he should say anything. After all, this the Ninomiya Kazuya he’s talking to, Asia’s richest man, the guy everybody in the business and finance industry is talking about, who knows what this old man could do should he say anything stupid.
“Sir, Young master looks like he has something to say,” said Nishida.
Taro looked at the butler gratefully, “I was just wondering if my parents are around…”
The old man placed a comforting hand onto Taro’s knee, “I’m afraid they’re not. You see, a few years back, Kazushi received information about your whereabouts and …and they were involved in a plane crash …” he trailed off, “you must be tired, Nishida, escort Kazunari to his room,”
“Yes, sir,”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So, you’ve met the Ninomiya Family’s little prince, Jun?” asked Sakurai Sho, swirling his red wine in his glass.
“Yeah, so have you,” Jun replied coolly while aiming at the white cue ball.
“Is he cute like what Sho said?” asked the third eldest Aiba Masaki, helping himself to the peanuts on the table beside their pool table.
“Does it matter?” asked a sleepy voice, belonging to the eldest of the four, Ohno Satoshi.
Sho sipped his red wine while leaning against the bar, “Yes, Masaki, Yamada Taro, or should I say, Ninomiya Kazunari, is very cute,”
“Jun’s really lucky then!” cried Masaki.
“Maybe you should reconsider making him hate you,” advised Sho.
“No thanks,”
“I wanna go fishing~”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When he stepped into a room in the west wing of the castle, Taro started hyperventilating. The room he was standing in was nothing like the ones in magazines. It was way cooler.
Even though this room was supposed to be his, Taro could not help but be intimidated by the size of the room - the living area could fit the whole of his whole house including the garden, the bath tub was like a swimming pool, and his bed was huge (and very comfy of course)!
“Young master,” said Nishida, appearing out of nowhere as he was busy checking out his walk-in wardrobe, “this is from Lord Ninomiya,”
Taro took the envelope which was handed to him and opened it. There was a letter which read ‘Kazunari, I hope you’d get used to staying here. Enclosed is your pocket money. From, Ojii-chan’.
Taro peered into the envelope, and nearly dropped it as if he had been burnt. Inside was a credit card. That was supposed to be his pocket money? His grandfather had to be kidding. There was no way he should receive such an amount for pocket money. Nervously placing the card on his bedside table, Taro concluded that rich people are indeed weird.
“Oh, and young master,” continued Nishida, “Would you like to pick something to change into for the night?”
Taro looked towards where Nishida was gesturing to and his jaws dropped in amazement. Just meters away from him was three clothes trolley stuffed with all sorts of sleep wear. Just sleep wear.
Cautiously, Taro approached the trolleys and picked the first one that he saw while mumbling a thanks to the maids. With a clap from Nishida, the maids took the trolleys away as quickly and silently as they had came in. Taro stared at the scene in front of him. If every time he wanted to change clothes would be like that, Taro was certain that he will go crazy. Three trolleys worth of sleep wear? Usually he only had one! His grip on his clothes tightened. As expected, it was impossible for him to stay there, sooner or later, he’ll turn mad too.
Glancing at the small digital clock on his bedside table, Taro noted that it was quite late at night and decided to stay. Just for the night, before running home first thing in the morning. He didn’t care if they were really his family and the Yamadas weren’t.