"Fuck I'm hungry..."
It's just another night in the castle for the fourteen-year-old young Lord Katsuki as he makes his way to the hall to have dinner with his parents.
He had spent his day studying, practicing hand to hand combat, sword fighting, and archery. He was a natural in all areas and even tended to best his teachers once he got the feel of something new he learns from them.
Soon enough his annoying parents will have to just turn over the title as Warden to him so he can actually do something about this lame ass region they are ruling over. In his opinion, his parents lack of activity means that they don't know what the hell they are doing. He wants their land to improve exponentially, not stay the same.
He enters the hall with his usual confident stride as he heads to his seat at their large dinner table.
"It's about DAMN time brat! What the hell took you so long!" His mother, practically the mirror image of himself, yells at him as he purposely slows down and takes his sweet ass time to get into his seat.
"Shut the hell up woman, I had shit to do ALL DAY! Unlike the two of you I actually get shit done!" Katsuki settles in his seat with a grunt.
"Tch fucking brat! It's that attitude of yours that makes you so clueless."
"I ain't fucking CLUELESS. I know how to rule! I'm-!"
"Ok ok..." His father interrupts. "We've been over this before... we don't need to bicker over this again… Katsuki..."
He makes eye contact with the older man, feeling a bit annoyed but remains silent none the less.
"I know you feel that we need to do more for this region but that is not our duty nor is it necessary. It seems that I need to remind you. Our lands are prosperous, our people happy, and we have received no orders from our King to make any excessive changes. We have eyes all over our land and they let us know when something is amiss, and I assure you things have been great. We are in a time of peace with crime at a near nonexistence."
"Tch whatever..." Katsuki puts his elbow on the table and leans on his hand as he dismisses his father's words, as he has heard them over and over again before. They won't ever understand that he wants to be the best! So obviously the region he is to rule over one day must be the best as well. Not just be some lame ass farmland and nothing else.
Dinner is now served on the table by two female servers, one being a young girl with short wild curly pink hair.
Katsuki zones out while eating. Mitsuki and Masaru start talking about their activities of the day and what they must do to plan for Katsuki's birthday coming up next month.
The large wooden doors leading out to the front entryway suddenly opens. Eijirou, Katsuki's Hand to hand sparring partner enters the room. He politely bows his head before quickly speaking. "Sorry to interrupt your dinner my Lord's, M'lady, but we have an unexpected citizen who has arrived at our doors."
Masaru raises his eyebrows in surprise. "Who is it? Did they say what they needed?"
"It's a poor elderly woman, and I thought she might need shelter but she said she just wishes to speak to the young Lord of the castle." He looks to Katsuki.
"HA! Ya' see even the citizens know that I can be of more help then you! Leave it to me, don't even bother getting up!" Katsuki takes another large bite of meat.
"Tsh! Brat..." Despite her words Mitsuki smirks at her son, feeling a little proud that he is eager to be of some service to their people.
He then gets up from his seat and stomps his way out of the Hall. Eijirou shuts the door behind them as he follows.
Katsuki sees on the opposite end of the huge entryway the figure of a very small person. He has to squint his eyes to even see properly. As he gets closer to her he realizes she can't be more than 4 feet tall, she seems frail and her gray hair looked matted as it fell in her face, so long it almost reaches the floor. She had a round face, squinty eyes, and a slight hunch in her back, and uses a large wooden stick as a cane for support and wore a hooded cloak that was tattered and gray. She looks up to him and smiles, that's when he realizes she has almost no teeth.
Katsuki grimaces at the idea of getting too close to this old hag but he must prove to his parents that he has what it takes to rule this land better than them.
He stops once he is within speaking range and addresses her. "You've chosen a very inconvenient time to visit. Who are you woman and what do you need from me?"
Katsuki smirks as he feels confidence flow within him. This is what he wanted, to deal with their people and make his place as a ruler. He is the best after all, and his people must treat him that way.
The old lady then frowns at his discourteous words as she approaches him slowly. "I see... then I guess I am due to give you an apology. Please pardon me my young Lord, I am Chiyo and I live in a nearby village beyond the forest. My only wish is to talk with you..."
The way her attitude changed seemed more like a naggy old woman then someone who felt sorry. She obviously was not taking him seriously at all. This irritates and insults him, he sneers at her response.
"Talk?! …. Talk about what?" He looks at her confused and annoyed. What the hell could be so important to come all the way up to their castle in the middle of the night to talk about?
"Oh, nothing extraordinary. I simply just want to get to know you, so I can see what kind of man will one day rule this land... I need to know who you are as a person." She stops just four feet in front of him and looks up to him with a face that said she was judging him.
His patience running low and feeling highly insulted, because he was already perfect! And he would be damned if some dirty old hag was going to look down on him. Forgetting all about his reason for wanting to help the old lady in the first place he blows up.
"Look I have no FUCKing time to deal with you right now hag. Leave... Now! Get this old bitch out of here Eijirou!" Katsuki turns away to walk back to the Hall doors, hunched over and stomping, he fumes.
The redhead quickly makes his way over to the old lady and attempts to gently place his hand on her shoulder and try to escort her out, but his hand suddenly lost its grip as it slid off her shoulder like it was a slippery surface. He looks as his hand confused, nothing was on it. He looks at the old lady's face and shouts out in surprise.
Katsuki hearing Eijirou making an odd noise turns around quickly only to be just as shocked and very grossed out.
She was melting. Her face seemed to be dripping, her clothing and her hair was all becoming distorted and blending together. She was turning into a blob of some sort, and growing taller. Colors were changing and suddenly a new figure emerged from it.
Suddenly the blond Lord was facing a young blonde woman. She had grown to be not much shorter then him now. Her hair was long and wild but not matted like before and had bangs that framed her face. Her eyes were golden and almond shaped like a cat. She wore a black, corseted, tattered dress that was torn in the front so you could see her knees and dirty bare feet. She looked at him with a smile, one that frankly creeped him the fuck out.
More then a little shocked he begins to speak out. "A wi-"
"WITCH?! Hahaha! Yes! You would be correct, I am indeed a witch! My name is Himiko!" She began skip over to him, ignoring Eijirou who was still in shock.
"BITCH stay the FUCK away from me or I'll KILL you!
"Haha nice try but that won't be happening."
As if on cue a sudden pain hit him in the chest, a powerful ache of some sort. He clutched his chest in pain as it seemed to spread across him. A burning sensation also begins to drape all over his skin. "Ah! Fucking shit! Wha- what the fuck did you do to me BITCH!" He growls that last word out, but it sounds different, deeper, and more... animalistic.
Suddenly all his teeth began to ache, he felt them as they began to take a new shape. Even new ones seemed to be puncturing their way out of his gums, blood slowly began to spill from his lips.
The pain over whelmed him so much he dropped to his knees and folded over. He can hear a scream come from Eijirou as well but he can't seem to gather the strength to look up at the moment. As more new pains continue to fall upon him he hears the witch talk to him.
"HahaHA! You brought this upon yourself and everyone who lives in this castle, if only you weren't so prideful and spoke to me with a little more kindness you wouldn't have activated my curse." Katsuki's heart drops. Everyone was affected, were they all going to suffer the way he was right now.
As if on cue he hears a retched scream that could only belong to his mother, but it seemed unnecessarily louder than normal. "WHAT the HELL is going on?! W- where are we Masaru! Ah! Is that?! Katsuki is that you?! What happened to you?!"
"M'Lady I'm sorry to say Lord Katsuki has activated my curse." Himiko announces in a sing song voice. Katsuki then gathers the strength to look up. His eyes grow wide as he notices that their large family portrait painting was no longer on the wall but his parents as they appeared from the Hall are now stuck in the painting instead. He only gives Eijirou a sparing glance to see that his body has turned to a stone like texture. He looks back up to his mother and father as he tries to find his voice.
"MoTHeeer-" His mouth still full of blood and having a new set of teeth along with what seemed like an altered voice made it difficult to call out to her.
"Witch, what did you do to my baby?!" Furious Red eyes look down from the painting at Himiko.
Himiko shrugs comically at her. "Like I said, he was the one to activate it. I merely am a witch who tests those who are to come into power. It's nothing personal truly, your son is just far too proud and has no sense of respect for at least an elderly woman who would only wish to have a little talk."
"...Shit!" Mitsuki then realizes what had happened, and the situation they are in. "H- how do we break the curse?"
A large grin manically grows on Himiko's face. "The Lord Katsuki simply needs to find someone to fall in love with! …Oh! And who can come to love him return, with both his rotten personality and his new appearance."
Masaru seems to be deep in thought as Mitsuki curses under her breath.
The giant doors of the front entrance suddenly burst open with a huge gust of wind, and black smoke begins to flow into the room.
"Aww! Is it that time already?" Himiko wines.
A tall figure walks in from outside, a man wearing all black with a white shirt. He seems to be about twenty or so. He is skinny with wild black hair but his skin looks like it had been sewn back together with ugly purple patches of wrinkly skin. "Time to go."
"But Dabi I haven't finished yet!"
"To bad. It's your own fault for fooling around. You don't want to piss off Tomura."
"Darn it! Oh well!" She then runs over to Dabi and they both make a quick exit before Katsuki can fully recover from the pain that his body had undergone.
"Mitsuki..." Masaru looks to his wife with a serious expression on his face. "I'm afraid we are now stuck to watching on the sidelines as our son has to go through this alone."
"...He won't be alone... *cough*" Eijirou who is now struggling to get on his feet looks up to them. His new body heavy now, and still in pain, makes it somewhat difficult. "I'm still here, which means it's possible there are others too. M'lord, M'lady, I grew up here serving your family and I will do everything in my power to help."
"Thank you..." Masaru says with all hopefulness in his voice. Mitsuki tears up as he holds her close to him.
Katsuki unable to move but still aware can only look at his mother cry and his father worry. He fights the urge to cry as tears fill his eyes. "... fuck..."
Five years Later
Riding into a small village was a carriage. It is filled to the brim with things, comically stacked up in the back like a tower. A large tapestry is draped over and tied to the sides of the carriage keep everything from falling out.
In the front of the carriage sat two people, one a woman in her mid-forties dressed in a green cloak for traveling. She is stout in stature, with dark green shoulder length hair. Her big green eyes taking in the new town. Next to her is a young man nineteen years old with the same big green eyes, and shorter curly dark green hair to match. His cloak is gray but he wears an unusual color of red for his shoes.
They ride through the town and the people are all looking at them with curiosity. A friendly woman approaches them. She is average in height, and has a nice body. Her hair is red, cut in a short bob, her bangs layered in the middle of her forehead.
"Hello, are you the new family that's moving into town?" Her voice was very soft and polite.
The woman on the cart responds happily. "Yes! Do you by chance know which way we should head to find the house? It's supposed to be on a hill with a small barn."
"Yes, if you take a left at the fork in the road up ahead it will bring you to the edge of town where you will see the hill easily. The road will lead you straight to it."
"Thanks so much!"
"No problem and welcome. May I get your names? I'm Shino."
"Oh of course! I'm Inko and this is my son Izuku." Inko places her hand on Izuku's shoulder and the other on his arm, obviously more than happy to show off her one and only child.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. I run the local Inn and Bar in town with my friends." She points over her shoulder to a nice wooden building that is two stories tall. "If you want to try some of my cooking or have a drink please stop by. First visit is on the house."
"Oh, thank you so much! I would love that. Perhaps we will stop by after we get settled in."
The woman smiles and nods as they continue.
They follow the directions the woman gave them. "What a lovely village isn't it Izuku? Such nice people too!"
"Yea.., it really is beautiful. It's such a contrast in scenery compared to living in a busy port town on the coast... it's so... quiet." He says with awe and smiles. He was a little reluctant to move at first, liking the familiarity of their old town, but now that he is here he can feel a little excitement filling up inside of him. He was always reading books about magic and such and he hoped that maybe now he could discover new things and people and have a bit of an adventure of his own.
Back at the Inn a very short young man with short purplish black hair runs in and approaches a table next to the window. The table is occupied by another young man, he was tall with half white and half red hair. He was looking out the window and had food and a pint on the table in front of him.
"Hey Shoto! Did you see the new people in town! Ha! How did they fit so much stuff on that tiny cart?! They must be super weird!"
"...Yea I saw them."
"They said they were going to come here after they settled in! Should be amusing!" The little guy then runs off suddenly losing interest in the conversation he himself had started. He sees a cute girl had entered the bar, no doubt he was going to hit on her.
Shoto looks after him with a bored expression, hoping that Minoru is right. Being a traveler, he had stopped here about a year ago. After running out of funds recently and finding this village with a nice Inn he offered to help for free room and board and to earn a savings on the side until he can continue his journey. To say the least it has been boring. Being an traveler made life interesting and being stuck in one place was very uneventful.
He thinks back to the green haired guy on the cart, he seemed to be about his age. Maybe he is what was missing and could liven things up a little bit around here. A small smile grows on his face as Shoto finds himself now looking forward to him arriving at the bar in the evening.