The Prince and The Pauper (20/24)
Author: ryosukekoibito
Pairing: Ariokamoto
Rating: PG-15
Genre:Romance
Disclaimer: I don't own much of anything.
Summary: Keito was a common citizen of the South Kingdom until the night his family's house burns down. Without anywhere to stay, they end up moving into the servant's section of the royal castle. There, along with his best friend Yuto, Keito meets the five royal princes...and catches Prince Daiki's eye. This is a spinoff of The Prince's Princess, by my sister ai_ai_gasa2 . It's basically a retelling of the story from Keito's perspective. I would encourage you to read that fic first if you haven't, but you don't have to have read it to understand the story. You can find the prologue for that fic here. Please, enjoy!
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19
The next morning Keito woke with a new resolve. All he could do was love Daiki, and remember that Daiki loved him too, and continue on with life, and hope everything would work itself out. He checked in with his mother, but she waved him away, saying that the princess had canceled any meetings for the day, and that she could manage fine on her own. Strange. Still, he was glad for the break, and he decided to put himself to work helping with the castle's laundry. He went out into the courtyard, where other servants were clustered around mounds of fabric, sitting around with their washboards, chatting as they worked, all of them soaked, the women with their sleeves rolled up as high as they could go, the men discarding their shirts entirely. Keito slipped his off, taking a tub and getting to work.
Half an hour later he was being kicked out by a scowling middle aged woman, without even being given time to grab his shirt. He had rubbed a hole in the sheet he'd been cleaning. It had been an accident, but she didn't appear to be much of one for second chances. Oops. He did feel bad about the sheet. He'd find it and patch it up later, once she wasn't around. He sighed, resolving to return to his room and read, and he returned back indoors, barely making it inside before a hand grabbed his arm, jerking him back against the wall, a low chuckle blessing his ears, before Daiki kissed him, the prince's fingers trailing down his bare chest, lips soft and full, and magical, as they trailed down his jaw. Keito grinned, whispering
"Hey, let me see you." Daiki obliged, pulling back slightly, and Keito took him in, letting the concept of marriage take over his mind. Picturing himself with Daiki, forever. He felt a warmth grow in his chest at the thought, and he decided. No matter what. No matter what, he would be there with Daiki, by Daiki's side.
"You're just amazing." Daiki breathed, and then they were kissing again, slow and careful, drawing the moments out for as long as possible, mindful of each other, mindful of keeping desire in check. They kissed for what felt like hours, until they eventually ended up curled up next to each other on the cold stone floor, propped up on the wall, and Keito was actually beginning to doze off a bit, when there was a voice, calling out
"Daiki? Where are you?" Daiki made a small noise of displeasure, before yelling
"Here, Chii." And lazily pressing his lips to Keito's shoulder, his tongue tracing over Keito's mole, pulling away as his little brother came around the corner. Keito blushed, his cheeks burning with embarrassment, as Prince Chinen took in their position. But the younger boy just looked a little sad, and he murmured
"Daiki, we need you upstairs."
"What is it?" Daiki seemed reluctant to move, his fingers curling around Keito's hip.
"I'll fill you in on the way. It's important. You need to know." Those words rung with foreboding, and Daiki frowned, brows furrowing, and he made to get up, pulling Keito to his feet and giving him a hug and a quick kiss before setting off with Chinen. Keito watched them go, dread scooping out a little hole for itself in his stomach. He decides to try and read, like he'd originally planned, and he goes back to his room, and he does read, for almost an hour, before Mrs. Nakajima comes in, asking if he would please deliver this tray up to the Kings office, just set it outside the door? He agrees at once, and after slipping on a new shirt he's off, a silver platter of hot food in both hands. He's very careful with it, and its a relief once he sets it down in front of the huge oak doors, and he sighs, stepping away and after taking in the tray, making sure nothing spilled that he may have missed, he sets off back the way he'd come, fully intending to return to his room, until the sound of his own name catches his ears.
"...Keito we’re talking about. If he…” He looked over, and found himself peering into Prince Inoo's bedroom, the royal brothers all sitting around on the bed and couches, heir expressions grim. It was Daiki who had spoken, his head in his hands, and Keito's concern for Daiki overrode any qualms he felt about butting into a private conversation. Especially if it involved him in some way.
“If I what?” He asked, waking in, but when all ten royal eyes turned their line of sight to him he felt the need to backtrack.
"Sorry,” He quickly told them “I wasn’t eavesdropping; I just heard my name, so…” He felt stupid, so he just shut up. The atmosphere was heavy, and an underlying tension linked most of the boys. They remained silent, as Daiki lifted his head from his hands, and gave Keito a look. A look that threatened to rip his heart in half. A scared, confused, angry, loving, upset, regretful look, that opens up a pit of terror in Keito's chest, as tears began to make their way down Daiki's cheeks.
“D-Daiki?!” He wanted to fix it, to make whatever was wrong stop. He sat next to Daiki on Prince Inoo's deep blue sheets, and wrapped an arm around Daiki's shoulders, pulling him to his chest, and placing a chaste kiss on the top of Daiki's head. Daiki pushed back against the hand on his back, but he pulled him closer, trying to comfort him. Keito froze however, when Daiki murmured
“Please don’t touch me.” The words were terrifying. Never had Daiki ever refused Keito's touch. He had always asked for it, begged for it, and even stolen it sometimes. What the hell had happened?! He slowly let go, the fear escalating as Daiki shifted away, putting space between them, and he demanded
“Daiki. What is it.” Daiki was shaking his head, the tears still trailing down his cheeks, down the end of his nose, and after a moment he said
“We caught you. You and your father.”
“Daiki-” Prince Chinen sounded reproachful, but Keito barely took notice. That didn't make any sense. His father? They had caught...? He tried to make sense of it.
“Caught? You mean, like, did you find him?” But if they had found his father then why was Daiki crying? But Daiki nodded, and said
“We know where he is.” For a second Keito felt relieved, as what that would mean to his mother washed over him, but the obvious distress brought him back, and he took in Daiki's tears
“Then why’re you-” His sentence was cut short violently, Daiki throwing a paper at him, the page blocking his vision for a moment, as Daiki stood, and when he spoke his words were harsh, angry.
“You have explaining to do.” He stormed out, and Keito stood, his only thought fixing him. Making Daiki better, but he was stopped by a grip on his forearm. It was Hikaru, the future king looking concerned. The prince nodded to the paper, the one Daiki had thrown, and said
“I think you should read that.” Not knowing what else to do, and desperate for answers, Keito took the page in his hands, and read. It was a letter.
Dear Ayaki,
How are you doing? Well, I hope. I know you get tired of hearing this, but I’ll remind you for the hundredth time-don’t go soft. Another thing I didn’t have time to tell you before I left-are you still sending in valuables for us to pawn? After you became rich, you’ve been single-handedly funding this plan, so don’t stop now. Though I understand your reason for keeping it, that necklace would have gotten us a lot… You’ve probably heard of what happened to Prince Rensuke, so I’ll tell you how it happened. We had already scheduled our meeting with him, pretending to be from a country and wanting to discuss some border issues. And once he’d sat down and gotten comfortable, it was swords out! Simple, really. I specially placed the items you’d given me to put at the scene, so I know that it all turned out according to plan. The best part is… They’ll never find us. We’ve hidden him in Northern territory. Yup. While they’re running all over the South like chickens with their heads cut off, we’ll just be hanging out, completely safe. It’s pathetic, really… If you just stand in front of the back door of the castle and keep walking straight, you’ll run into us at the back edge of the forest. We’re so close that it’s funny. There’s still some debate on whether or not we should kill him once his one month is up, though if we didn’t, I don’t see what we could do with him… It could just end up being a bother. Ah, we’ll mess with that when the time comes. It’s not your problem anyway. Stay strong and inconspicuous.
-Okamoto Kenichi
Keito's mind was on overdrive, one thought clambering in front of another, and yet things began to make sense, and Daiki's words minutes earlier were explained.
“We caught you. You and your father.” Oh god. Did they think he was a part of this? He pushed off of the bed, his eyes wandering from royal face to royal face, pleading with them.
“I…I didn’t know, I had nothing to do with this-” Prince Yamada cut his sentence short, his voice calm.
“We know. Just… Daiki…” The underlying message was clear. Remember what I said. Remember that no matter what, he loves you. He does. Keito nods, and runs from the room, searching desperately for Daiki. He finds him in the most predictable location, his boyfriend-was he still his boyfriend? Oh god-was curled up on the sofa pushed up against the left wall of his bedroom, his face buried in his hands again. Keito froze, words escaping him for a moment, before he walked in, stopping so that he was standing, facing Daiki.
"Dai-chan...I didn't know. I had no idea about my father. I...I had nothing to do with this plot, or Rensuke's kidnapping. I promise you." There was a long pause, and Daiki lowered his hands, his little fingers shaking, his face flushed with tears, but he still didn't speak. Keito took a seat next to him, murmuring
"I love you. I would never do anything to hurt you, or your family, like this." When Daiki still didn't respond, he reached out, his fingers beginning to slide into the spaces between Daiki's own, when Daiki jumped up suddenly, yelling.
"How do you expect me to suddenly trust you, to believe you? We’re about to have a war and it’s his fault." Keito was shocked by the suddenness of it all, as if touching Daiki had flipped a switch. And he was scared. Daiki didn't trust him. Didn't believe him.
"I've never lied to you, Daiki. Ever. I'm not now. I didn't know. I'm sorry about what he did-what he's doing-but it isn't my fault. I'm not involved." Daiki finally looked at him, eyes desperate, confused, scared. His voice grew weaker, quiet, and he asked
"How can you be so calm right now?" What?!
"I’m not calm." Keito let the desperation, the fear, the turmoil he was feeling creep into his words, for once not holding himself back.
"You call this calm?! How can I be calm?!?" He was yelling. He stood, taking a deep breath, before continuing
"Maybe you didn’t get past the fact that on that letter is my last name. I didn’t know anything about this. It’s my dad’s name on that paper, not mine. And do you think that it doesn’t affect me? You’ve never had a dad, so you don’t get this-" Daiki opened his mouth to protest, but Keito didn't let him, because Daiki didn't know what Keito's father was like. What living with a man like him was like."-but I don’t want him to get a death sentence. He’ll probably get hung for his crimes, and what’d you think that’ll do to my mom?" Just the thought brought tears to his eyes. Stinging his throat and blurring his vision. "I’m going to lose my father, maybe my mother-at least emotionally, probably my place here, everybody’s trust, and the most important thing in my life. You. And I didn’t do anything to earn it." A sob racked Daiki's body, and Keito watched him for a moment, feeling helpless. Daiki looked up at him, a said
"But...he's your father. Your dad, not some obscure relative. Your father, who raised you..." When Keito spoke again, his breaths were shaky, his voice giving away his tears
"Look, I can't tell you what to believe. I don't know how to convince you that I didn't know, it's up to you to make the choice; but I can tell you one thing. Do you remember those bruises? The ones I got after the ball? You know how I wouldn't tell you who had beaten me?" Daiki had grown quiet, his face all scrunched up and red, snot and tears and confusion on it. His brow furrowed a bit farther at the mention of the memory, and Keito took that as a sign to continue.
"It was him. He did that to me. And I can tell you that I never would pick someone like that over someone like you."
"He...beat...you?" Daiki's words were tentative, and raw, and angry.
"Yeah. He saw us kissing, and he didn't like it."
"And you stayed with me." It came out like a question.
"Yes. Because I love you more than I ever loved him." Keito searched Daiki's face. "Because you are my future...if you'll let that be." Daiki stood there, taking him in for a long time, and Keito slumped against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting, his hands shaking from the emotional roller coaster. He had pleaded his case; it was out of his control.
Then, Daiki came forward, and he curled himself up in Keito's lap, his cold wet face hurrying into Keito's neck, and Keito immediately wrapped an arm around Daiki's back, pulling him close. Daiki's hands wrapped themselves in his shirt, and his little body shook with tears, as Keito used his free hand to pry one of Daiki's from his shirt, lacing them together. He felt Daiki's breath hot on his neck, Daiki's tears rolling down his throat, and he just pulled Daiki closer, his own tears falling into Daiki's brown hair, and there, like that, they cried themselves to sleep.
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