Hello dear readers! This story was originally written in Finnish (Omenamaan Prinssi) and a present for someone who is obsessed with Togainu no Chi. I'm not myself too familiar with the story or characters sooo… but hey I like writing gifts! :D It's the thought that matters, not the content, right?
This was translated into English by my awesome sister (because I'm too lazy and not that smart) who was also the gift receiver! We stared at this text cross-eyed for a while and then decided that if the grammar is killing someone, please beta this for us! xD
The Prince of Apple Kingdom
Once upon a time, a rather long time ago, in a far-off kingdom lived a noble king and a prince that was at least double the noble –
"I want more line! Shiki, why are you so slow?" the king screeched, bedridden.
"Oh, Arbitro, dear father, before long the drugs will kill you", the son said with a lazy tone, had a glance at his pops and changed his mind. "On the second thought, nab at this; a whole suitcase chock-full of it. Even stronger kind."
Only prince Shiki knew the secret recipe of the drug called line and because of that he was respected throughout the whole kingdom. Respected a tad too much, as when he came up with this ridiculously jolly game with the grand prize of line supplies for a whole year, the frenzy spurred by it blew lids off. And the game meant that the entire capital city, Igura, had turned into a paradise for scoundrels. The one who succeeded to collect most apple badges (symbols of the kingdom) from other dopes by the end of the year, would be the winner of the game.
Only Shiki knew that the main ingredient for line was apples. How stupid the hoy-polloy really was for not knowing; the whole kingdom was brimming with apples, apples and some more apples and nothing to go on their side. The people ate apples for breakfast, dinner and night snack.
The sour face of the dear papa brightened up as he flailed his hand in the vague direction of the suitcase before he gave up on the attempt and called for his subordinates Kiriwar and Gunji.
Shiki rolled his eyes while excusing himself from the room and strolled off to the streets of the city. He had got a surprising little problem in his hands along with the game; from somewhere an unknown and dangerous new secondary line (that had definitely not been made out of apples) had popped up among the peasantry, and it made people go bonkers in their heads and be a nuisance to Shiki's business. Shiki presumed that Nano, the prince of the neighbor kingdom, was to blame for this, but he had no proof to go along with his assumptions.
All of a sudden, Shiki heard noises of fighting in the distance of couple quarters. Had someone chugged down fake line again? Merged into the shadows of apple trees Shiki floated noiselessly like a ghost nearer the brawlers.
Akira's stomach was having a grumbling jubilee. How could it be possible that he'd rob a mysterious line recipe from the castle when he was this hungry? Akira had wandered around Igura avoiding crazy people with unpleasantly glowing eyes and an urge to take a try at stabbing him with their knifes. What the heck was wrong with this kingdom! Akira's occupation was a pincher, and for money he pinched just about anything. Even food recipes. At first Akira had mistaken line for a pie, but his employer Ema had quickly corrected him. Though, that wasn't very helpful in the end, since Akira still thought that line was some kind of fizzy drink.
"You seem to have no apple badges yet", out of blue a stranger's voice pointed out right behind Akira, almost sending the startled boy tumbling down from the edge of the roof (Akira had discovered the rooftops more safe than the alleys).
"An apple?" Akira craned his neck in the direction of the voice, hopeful. Apple was food, wasn't it?
"An apple", the stranger repeated and lifted another one of his eyebrows. The stranger was brown haired, smiling and around his upper body clung an ill-fitting sweater.
Don't trust people dressed in ill-fitting clothes, Akira's mom's voice flashed through Akira's mind, but he shooed it off.
The stranger realized that he had captured Akira's full interest, and slowly he took an ampoule out of his suitcase.
"That's not an apple", Akira protested.
"It's not, but with this, you can gain apples", the man persuaded.
"Mom told me not to talk with strangers", Akira stated doubtfully.
"I am Nano", the man said and waved the ampoule temptingly. "And because I like you, I'll give this to you for free."
That was the cue. Akira snatched the ampoule out of Nano's hand and before Nano could stop him, he had downed the liquid in one gulp.
Shiki's eyes widened when he saw the brawlers. The other one of them was without any shred of doubt the neighbor kingdom's prince Nano. In this kind of situation even Shiki's jaw dropped, though he afterwards denied it. Some small pissed-off moron clothed in a fur-collar jacket was strangling Nano.
"For crying out loud, THAT'S NOT SOMETHING TO BE TAKEN IN AN EMPTY STOMACH", Nano squirmed while pulling off the half-pint's hands from around his neck.
"But you said I would get apples with it, yet I still see none", Akira growled.
"Are you really that dumb?" Nano slammed the boy against a wall. "Do you even know what I just offered to you?"
"A diet drink?" the boy guessed and kicked Nano under the belt. "No friggin' idea!"
"I should've known that!" Nano grunted out of pain and tripped Akira on the ground with him. "You blasted nitwit! This is Igura!"
"Huh?" the boy wailed after hitting the back of his head against the cobblestones. "It was for free!"
"Of course it was for free! You wouldn't have taken it otherwise!" Nano twisted Akira's arm into a painful looking curve.
"And I took it!" the boy whined.
A loud clearing of a throat interrupted the play of the two. Both of them shot their heads up simultaneously, loosening their grips on each other. A person clad in black leather stood there, tapping the ground with his foot in an irritated manner.
The last pinch of color faded from Nano's face and he gave a hasty glance at the direction of his suitcase that lied lid open on the pavement, right there where it had landed after dropping from the rooftop when the boy had exploded at him. The contents, all the line ampoules, where exposed to the day light, along with a piece of paper on which Nano had scribbled: "LINE – distribute only to the dumb."
Akira blinked his eyes rapidly; it was a good idea to breathe now when there was no one grabbing his wind pipe. It seemed that the handsome man dressed in black wasn't in a very jolly mood, so it would be in Akira's best interest to leg it and fast at that. Nano, squishing Akira under him, had also stiffened so seemingly, that maybe Akira would do wisely to be worried as well. What on earth had gone through Akira's head, to blow up like that and roll them both down from the roof?
"I knew it was you", the man said and pointed a finger at the pile consisting of Akira and Nano, then slowly pulling out his large sword.
In a chorus Akira and Nano gasped and scrambled away from each other, taking a dash at each of their own direction. Akira wasn't that familiar with the city, so he ran into the first dark side alley he spotted and made his way towards an old factory in hopes of a hiding place.
What a Chinese fire drill, was Shiki's first thought when he observed the panic fit of the two guys. It would've been the last straw if they had actually run through his blade by themselves in the hassle. But now Shiki had to make a choice; which one of them he would pursue? Nano was clearly the quilty part regarding the conversation, the suitcase and the note. But Shiki would have no witnesses if he didn't fetch the boy first; the kid could disappear into thin air for all he knew, or at least, that seemed to be his plan seeing how he had spurted off. What came to Nano, him Shiki could always dig up from his home lair.
Slowly Shiki took couple steps into the direction the unfamiliar boy had dashed off, picking up his pace quickly. He could always find Nano, no matter what, but could he possibly find another daredevil like that boy? Hardly. If the lad served a kick into Nano's groin, it was highly likely that he would also testify against Nano in a court (a thing, that many a man would never dare to do).
Shiki turned to the first dark side alley, remembering how many of his previous preys had tried to escape through them.
Akira wheezed and sweated like a water fall whilst grasping at his sides that stung from the running performance. He wasn't a sprinter. He was a pincher! He snuck in and took what he came for without being caught, so there had not been any need to develop any peroneal muscles! Hungry, tired, junked-up and chased after. Ema would have to cough up double the payment money to Akira for a gig like this.
Suddenly Akira heard heavy running steps behind him. Mockingly slow and relaxed, but unceasing nevertheless. Akira eyed over his shoulder, seeing a dark figure coming closer in the shady alley. The next second Akira had already made it to the stairs that ascended to the roof of the factory. Stairs that were actually very yeilding and decayed and made a lot of noise while stepped on. I really should've sent a postcard to mom when I was still alive, Akira deplored and picked up his pace.
-when I was still alive, Akira giggled.
Shiki stopped at the bottom end of the stairs and glued his sceptical eyes on the boy bouncing on the flimsy stairs up above. What was that numbskull thinking now; the stairs were ready to give in any minute from a mere touch!
Shiki had just the time to finish his thought and lightly brush the handrail with his finger when the stairs creaked and groaned starting to collapse.
Oh deary.
Akira felt his heart to stop, then he jumped in an attempt to avoid being drown under the trash. I can fly I can fly I can fly, Akira chanted in his head his eyes squeezed tightly shut, but still fell faster than a rock. Oh how I crave for some apples, was a side thought that crossed his mind.
Even the side thought was cut short, when Akira squished something under him and the two of them rolled across the ground tangled to each other for a long distance before a wall came in the way stopping them.
"Ow ow."
"Ouch."
"This was already the second time I take a fall today", Akira mourned half aloud.
"This was the first time I served as a cushion for someone", that another person wondered.
"Thank you, mr. cushion", Akira said politely.
"Shiki."
"Shiki?" Akira furrowed his eyebrows. The recipe he was supposed to pinch was in the possession of someone named Shiki.
"That's right, you bonebreaker stranger", Shiki growled and was utterly thankful about it that the sword of his had not skewered them during the fuss.
"Akira", Akira introduced himself.
There was a moment of silence until Shiki got back to the business.
"Say, Akira, would you like to testify against Nano in a court?"
There was another moment of silence until Akira, too, decided to empty his head of thoughts.
"Say, Shiki, would you tell me where you keep the recipe of line?"
"Well, no, but I can tell you how many years I've trained fighting arts and how many traps there are in my home."
"Aha."
Akira discarded that topic then.
After returning to home by a special train service Nano cursed his bad luck and took the note he had written to go along with the line ampoules, jotting down a little extra on it: "LINE – distribute only to the dumb, but not to too dumb." He still thought that he had weaseled his way out of this one.
"Akira, isn't that a little bit too desperate already?" Shiki sat in an armchair in his living room and held a rifle on his lap, its barrel pointed at Akira.
"Eh", Akira who attempted to come in through a window let out a noise and flopped to sit on the floor.
"Because I wanted you to pay a visit, I switched off the alarm system and ordered the rottweilers to be put in their cage", Shiki chatted. "It would've been such a shame if you ended up being their snack once again."
Akira sulked and unconsciously touched his bandaged leg with his fingers.
"But what an astonishing ability; to climb to the fifth floor via ivies", Shiki wondered and put his gun away. "Would you like some wine?"
"Wine? Are you trying to get me drunk?" Akira got nettled.
"And what if I try?" Shiki winked an eye.
"I say, I already promised to testify against Nano, you don't need to persuade me anymore", Akira heaved a sigh. "The trial will be soon and the summons documents have just been posted to Nano."
"And what if I try to persuade you into something completely else?" Shiki's smile reached from ear to ear.
Akira froze where he was, then started to retreat back out through the window.
"You can tell them to let the dogs free again, then I'll run even faster", Akira muttered and flung himself back on the support of the ivies.
When Akira glanced back to the castle after reaching the gates, Shiki was still at the window, waving a loving seeyabye.
Dang it. Shiki knew that Akira would come back despite all this.
"Hey you, getting that soda pop recipe is more difficult than you made me think!" Akira huffed on the phone to Ema. "You didn't even mention that this Shiki person is a prince!"
"Akira, I thought you already knew it", Ema was baffled. "They do have social studies and whatnot at the schools."
"Maybe so, yet that's no help if you've not been to school, is it?" Akira muttered.
"And by the way, Akira."
"What?"
"Line is not soda pop."
"What!"
"Exactly that."
"You should give up, Akira", Shiki said as he stirred beef soup with his other hand and pointed Akira with a pistol in his another hand. "I already got an alarm about you once you arrived on the neighboring streets. And speaking of that, I will let you in through the door, there's no need to use the window. The ivies will die soon."
"Half have done so already", Akira confessed and sat at the kitchen table.
"And you can visit me during the days, too. I might get the wrong idea with you wanting to climb to me at nights", Shiki smiled with the glint of joy returning to his eyes.
"Shiki!"
"Yeah yeah, that's right. You keep coming because of line, not me. Buhuu."
Shiki ditched his gun into the cutlery drawer and set the table with two plates, one for him, one for Akira.
"Chess is way too complicated game", Akira complained when Shiki's knight ate his last bishop.
"I can see that", Shiki muttered and laughed inwardly at the way how Akira kept crumbling his eyebrows. "The situation has been a check mate for my credit the last half an hour."
"Well, say, if we switched back to that monopoly game?" Akira suggested, sweeping all the chess pieces down to the floor out of a sudden whim.
"You lost in it every time, too", Shiki reminded.
"Asch", Akira dumped the chess board after the chess pieces.
"But there is of course one more game that we haven't tried out yet", Shiki cooed while re-seating himself right next to Akira. "And in that game you can't lose."
"If it involves taking off clothes, then we can pass it", Akira jostled Shiki to the floor from the edge of the sofa.
Shiki was about to start banging his head against the side-table in his frustration, but then he saw from the corner of his eye that a small smile lingered on Akira's lips, even though Akira tried his best to hide it.
Maybe there was a chance after all.
Later, when Akira was still inefficient and after the line recipe (and an extension of Ema's black list) and still a regular visitor to Shiki's house:
"Hey, Shiki, you know what? There're so much apples in here that wouldn't it be funny if line was made out of them, too?" Akira laughed while looking out the window and taking in the view of trees fired by autumn tints, their branches full of apples.
"Err", Shiki said and decided to take the conversation into another direction. "There has been a crapload of fleas in the roses this year. And we had to do a bedbug poisoning for one entire block's households. And shees did Arbitro the old man finally start to stink a bunch."
"Eh?"
The End