The King's Prophecy (2/17)
Title: The King's Prophecy
Author: thanku4urlove
Pairing: Takaki/Inoo
Rating: PG-13
Warnings:Uh... I don't know. Interdimensional travel I guess?
Genre: Romance, AU (Royalty/Fantasy)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: When Takaki stepped off the train in Tokyo, he thought he was going to get his hair touched up at the salon. Instead he meets a crossdressing vigilante in a life-or-death situation, and that's just the beginning.
A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the beautiful nazo_yaya!!! She's a wonderful person, and is always there with conversation-starting and supportive comments <3 I hope you had a wonderful birthday!
Previous Chapters: 1
Takaki just nodded, unsure of how to respond.
"You can sit down, if you want. I'm going to go change out of this thing, and and then make some food. Want any?"
"Yes please."
"Okay." Inoo smiled, standing and walking down an narrow hallway to a door and turning out of sight. Takaki looked around. The place didn't look too prehistoric, with a sink, tables, cabinets, and chairs. He assumed where he was standing was the kitchen, the stretch of floor just past it looking the be a living area with a chair, a couch, and a rug. The hallway Inoo had gone down had four doors on it, two on each side of the wall, which Takaki guessed were the bedrooms of Inoo, and the two other people that he had said lived there. Yabu and Daiki, whoever they were.
The first thing Takaki did was rinse the tomato juice off of his hands, and once they were dry he pulled his phone from his pocket. As he had suspected, there was no signal, and with no way of charging the device, Takaki suspected that it would grow useless quickly. He powered it off, putting it back into his pocket as Inoo reemerged.
He was in a simple green tunic and brown shorts, the cloth looking rather thin and light, a rope tied around his waist. It also looked like he had brushed his hair, and he pulled a lock behind his ear as he walked to the cabinets, opening one.
"Okay, we have bread and... Bread. And some apples. Why don't we have any food?" He turned to Takaki, asking "What day is it?"
"Thursday."
Inoo just looked at him blankly before shaking his head, Takaki muttering "sorry" as he turned back to his pantry.
"I left three days ago, and last night was... Okay, so Daiki is supposed to be bringing home some food today, that's why." He sighed, turning to Takaki with an eyebrow raised. "We don't have any food. Want an apple?"
"Sure."
Inoo threw him one, grabbing another for himself and sitting down across the table from Takaki, taking a bite.
"Since Yabu will probably be home soon, I'll tell you a bit about him before he gets home." Inoo said around his mouthful, swallowing. "He's a knight, so he works in the castle, which is how I'm able live here. All of these places near the castle are knight housing." He took another bite, Takaki biting into his apple as well. The fruit was surprisingly good, though Takaki suspected he might also just be really hungry. "He'll probably have no problem with you staying here, though no decisions will be made about that until Daiki gets back, which will be after sundown since he's a farmer in the King's fields."
Takaki nodded, mouth full, Inoo misreading his silence.
"You don't have to stay here or anything. It just seemed as though you didn't have anywhere else to go."
"No, you're right, I don't." Takaki said quickly. "Your hospitality is very kind, thank you."
Inoo squinted at him. "You're weird." He finally said. Takaki's mouth fell open in indignance.
"Me?" He asked. "You pulled money out of your dress to buy some rotten tomatoes earlier. While running from people that wanted to kill you."
Inoo burst into laughter, resting his forehead on the heels of his palms.
"Okay." He admitted, looking up and giving Takaki a smile. "It does sound a little weird when you say it like that."
That made it Takaki's turn to raise his eyebrows and take a bite from his apple, but something about the way Inoo was smiling at him made it impossible not to smile back. The housemate Yabu came home two rolls of bread and one short conversation later, one of his arms around a curiass, a helmet in his other hand.
"I don't remember leaving the door unlocked..." he murmured to himself, the confusion on his face deepening for just a moment when he saw that the house wasn't empty. Then his face completely brightened, dropping everything and beaming, pulling a smiling Inoo out of his chair and into a hug.
"You're alive!"
"Tadah!" Inoo said back, simply standing there as his friend looked him over. Yabu himself was extremely tall and thin, dark hair hanging roundly about his face, his eyes completely disappearing when he smiled. He did not at all fit Takaki’s mental image of a knight, and if not for the armor he had come home with, Takaki would not have guessed him to be the man Inoo had told him about earlier.
“How?” Yabu asked, slightly disbelieving. “Weren’t you supposed to be hung today? I mean, I never heard a confirmed date, just rumors. All rumors hold truth to them, though.”
Inoo nodded. “I was. They didn’t even give me the decency of letting me change; I was standing next to the noose in a dress and flowery sandals when I saw this guy.” Inoo gestured to Takaki, who found it appropriate to stand. “His name is Takaki Yuya, and since he’s the reason my neck isn’t broken I figured he could stay here with us.”
“Oh, of course.” Yabu said quickly, turning in Takaki’s direction. “Hello, I’m Yabu Kota.”
“Hi.” Takaki introduced himself again, noticing the way Yabu was looking at him--mostly, at his clothes and his hair. “I’m not from around here.”
“I didn’t think so.” Yabu glanced back at Inoo, asking “So, what happened?”
They all sat back down and Inoo told the whole story from the beginning, referring to Takaki as both ‘handsome stranger’ and ‘this idiot’ on more than one occasion. Takaki though, wasn’t listening as much as he was watching. He hadn’t let himself really notice Inoo yet, taking in the mole at the base of his neck, the full, pouty pink lips, the drooping eyelids, and the thickness of his black hair, nearly as long as Takaki’s own. Inoo was a very pretty person, and it nearly made Takaki laugh out loud to imagine the--now much more plausible--situation that had led to Inoo’s hanging in the first place.
Not too long after Yabu's appearance the sun began to set, the room growing dark. Takaki looked around for a light switch, feeling dumb when instead Yabu and Inoo began lighting candles. There was soon enough light to bathe the place in a warm glow, and in the middle of Inoo telling him that Daiki would be coming home any time now, the door opened.
"Daiki!" Inoo leapt from his seat at the table, Daiki's expression suggesting that he almost didn't realize who was jumping on him before it happened. He had a large sack in his hands, his muscles straining to hold it in only one as he used the other arm to hug Inoo back.
"You're alive! ...how?"
"I don't want to tell the story again." Inoo mumbled into his friend's shoulder. "I probably should though, because there is something we need to talk about."
He pulled out of the hug, gesturing for Daiki to sit in the last available chair at the small round table. Daiki both looked and smelled of earth and sweat, but he smiled at Takaki all the same, introducing himself as Arioka Daiki. Takaki did similarly back, nearly cut off by Inoo quickly saying
"That guy helped save my life today."
The floored expression on Daiki's face made Takaki feel like he was really being given too much credit.
"Only sort of." He told Daiki, shaking his head. "Inoo did most of the running, and the throwing tomatoes, and the... Hitting people with shoes."
"Sounds like Inoo." Daiki remarked, Yabu laughing.
"Yeah, but you're the one that got me away from the noose in the first place." Inoo countered seriously. "And Daiki, he doesn't really have a place to live, and I was thinking, maybe..."
Takaki could tell immediately that Daiki wasn't as keen on having someone else live with them as Yabu had been.
"He doesn't have to stay here forever." Inoo said quickly. "But he can help out with stuff, and he'll sleep in my room, or something, and--"
"I'm just worried about this place being crowded, that's all." Daiki said doubtfully.
"Oh come on, you're small enough, you don't have to worry about space." Yabu said, a grin on his face.
"That's it Yabu, no dinner for you." Daiki declared, standing. "And yes, he can stay. Thank you," he said, now addressing Takaki. "We really couldn't live without Inoo here."
That put an extremely sappy expression on Inoo's face, and he wiped exaggeratedly under his eyes, giving a loud fake sob and throwing himself at Daiki again, the shorter man laughing at him. Conversation moved to how Daiki's day had gone as Inoo and Daiki made dinner, Takaki helping Yabu unload the produce from the bag Daiki had brought home.
"We picked and loaded up about half of the apples, cabbage, and broccoli today." Daiki said. "Nothing too exciting happened."
"Now now, I see that smile on your face." Yabu said. "What is it?"
"Oh Yabu, picking and loading means seeing his precious Yamada soon." Inoo sing songed, dancing away as Daiki splashed water at him.
"He isn't my precious anything." Daiki protested, but he was grinning as he spoke again. "I just... Yeah, I do get to see him soon."
"And you're his precious farmer boy." Inoo cooed. Daiki drew a knife out of a drawer, looking as though he might intend to use it in ways other than to cut vegetables if Inoo didn't stop talking, but Inoo wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "You don't have to worry about the place being too crowded; when you two get married you'll be moving out to live a luxurious life in the castle."
"Sorry, but... Who's Yamada?" Takaki asked. Daiki didn't say anything, and Inoo began to grin.
"He's a chef that works in the castle." Yabu finally told him.
"He's Prince Chinen Yuri's personal chef." Inoo elaborated. "And he always makes sure to buy everything straight from Daiki. Always."
"There's nothing... He doesn't like me, though. He can't. He lives and works in the castle. For the prince. And I'm..."
"And you're his ruggedly handsome, manly, sun kissed farmer." Inoo said exaggeratedly, running his hands down Daiki's biceps and giving him a grin, Daiki turning incredibly pink. "I've seen the way he reacts to you, Daiki; he would be complete putty in your hands."
Daiki turned away from his friend and back to the food he was making, blushing too badly to speak and shaking his head.
"He would." Yabu agreed with a nod.
"Come on!" Inoo exclaimed. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about it."
"Listen. He's wealthy, he's someone special, and I'm not. Cut it out."
He was more embarrassed than angry but his tone of voice lowered the mood significantly, the room falling silent. Inoo frowned and Yabu sighed, Takaki taking the chance to hesitantly speak up.
"Inoo, didn't you say you would tell Daiki what happened? With the escape and everything?"
"Right!" Inoo gave Takaki a relieved expression, launching into the tale enthusiastically. Everyone was laughing by the time he reached the part about the tomatoes. Daiki had seen it coming as soon as he has heard the vendor's name, gasping out "You didn't. Not again."
"...again?" Yabu asked weakly. "You do know I'm a knight too, right? If anyone knew I was friends with you, Inoo..."
Inoo just gave him a smile. "You love me. Besides, you know it's for the greater good."
"Your 'greater good' could get me fired."
The meal had finished being made, Yabu and Daiki taking it to the table.
"Oh, don't give me that, considering who you fraternize with. If anyone found out about your secret little relationship they could pin the riots on you, and you would have a hard time defending yourself."
Daiki nodded a little. Takaki simply sat there, confused, but the farmer noticed his expression, quietly telling him to not worry about it. Takaki was then asked to talk a little about himself, but that proved difficult; none of them knew what most of what he talked about was.
"He does worship a god called the Electricity though, I know that." Inoo contributed proudly.
"No I don't." Takaki said quickly. "I... It's not a god, it's this thing, and..." He gestured vaguely. "It's just something people use. It makes life a lot easier."
"What do you give this god in exchange for its services?" Yabu asked. All three of them were extremely curious.
"We don't. We don't worship it, we just use it, and then everything sort of falls apart when it doesn't work."
"It would probably be more willing to work if you gave it offerings." Daiki suggested, and Yabu had another question.
"Only weak leaders blame the gods when things go wrong. Perhaps you could appoint a new king?"
"We don't really have kings, either." Takaki said, deeming electricity impossible to explain.
"See, I told you that you were weird." Inoo said, smiling at him from across the table.
"But do you guys really have a king?" Takaki had to ask. "And a prince, and all of that?"
"You did see the castle earlier today." Inoo pointed out.
"I was with the King just today." Yabu said. "I was asked to border the throne room for a meeting. It was about the rising crime rate, and how to combat it." He threw Inoo a pointed look. "I think the man you married actually came to the king to complain."
"Hey now, don't believe a word he said." Inoo feigned an indignant tone, pouting. "I made an excellent wife."
Daiki clutched at his stomach, laughing, as Inoo continued.
"I actually kissed him during the ceremony, I made him a fantastic dinner... He had no grounds to divorce me, the jerk." Inoo saw the incredulity on Takaki's face and grinned at him, Takaki finding that he did not quite know what to make of Inoo, but really was looking forward to finding out.