Hey guys! Sorry I suddenly deleted this story...I wanted to fix it up a bit and repost it. So anyways, here it is!

For new readers, I'd like to give a brief description of the setting. So this story is set in the Nara period of Japan, which is around the years AD 700-800. There is a reason I'm starting this far back, and you will all find out later. ;) Anyway, I'd like to mention that I did some research on this era but my use of technology here or the culture or anything might not be the most accurate, so please forgive me for that.

Enjoy!

"Aominecchi! Are we going?"

Kise slid the door open, stepping into the man's room to see what was taking him so long. He had been the one to schedule this outing and he sure hoped he wouldn't be the one cancelling it. The blond had been looking forward to this day for a week, since they hadn't seen each other in a long time—Aomine had been taken along to a meeting a couple of towns over, though it was mainly due to the fact that the man was just so damn busy as the heir to his clan. Kise didn't complain about this, not out loud anyway, since he knew how stressful it must be. But without him, he was at a loss of what to do. There were plenty of girls that wanted his company, of course, but this guy was different.

The blond mentally sighed when he saw his best friend sitting at his desk, working away at papers he knew he wouldn't understand. He strode towards him, but before he could reach his destination he bumped into something. Someone actually.

Kise jumped back in surprise when he was met with icy blue eyes. They glared at him, peeking through bangs of the same colour. He had an intimidating air to him, enough to make the blond back away in caution. But when Kise got a good look at the male's figure, he put a hand to his mouth, trying to hold back his bubbling laughter.

"Aominecchi! Who's this?" He ran up to the man, or boy, he wasn't quite sure, and put an arm around him. "He's so cute!"

Aomine turned around from his seat, his face paling the minute he saw the position his friend was in.

"Kise, careful, you shouldn't call him cu—

In a matter of seconds, the 'cute', or so Kise had thought, boy had the blond's arm pinned against his back, pressing him against the wall. Though he couldn't see the boy in the position he was in, he felt his glare boring holes through his skin. Fear crawled up Kise's spine and his arm was suddenly raised even more, shooting pain through his body.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he yelped, wincing.

"Kuroko, let him go."

There was a moment of silence before Kuroko sighed and complied ever so hesitantly, releasing his grip on Kise's arm. The blond rolled his shoulders with a soft curse, wincing a bit at the strange angle the limb had been held in.

"Aomine-sama has work to do and can't accompany you at the moment." The boy's expression stayed blank whilst speaking, and he gestured to the door, politely asking him to leave. "I advise you come another time."

Kise had sort of expected this, but hearing it out of someone's mouth still surprised him and he couldn't help but let out an "Ehhh?". He had been denying it his whole way here. He looked to Aomine with a dejected gaze, but knew his friend was busy and he tried to be understanding.

"Well, I guess you have a lot of work to do, being the heir and all. It's been the same with my brother…"

The dark blue haired man stood up, closing the distance between them in a couple of strides and leaning in so their faces were only inches apart. Blue eyes scanned all his features before locking their gazes, and the blond's eyes widened. He felt his cheeks heat at the close proximity. What was he doing?

Aomine suddenly flicked his forehead.

"Of course I'm going, you idiot." He grinned. "Don't get upset over nothing."

Kise suddenly recovered from his state of shock, quickly backing away and hiding his flushed face. The room suddenly felt really hot.

What had he been expecting? Why was he getting so flustered? He silently scolded himself.

"Ah...really?" he managed to say whilst looking at the ground, not quite ready to make eye contact. A smile still crept its way upon his lips.

"But Aomine-sama—

"They've been piling an unnecessary amount of work on me," he cut off. "I can afford a break. Also, how many times have I told you to stop using 'sama' after my name?"

Kuroko's lips were pressed together in a thin line, probably thinking of how to word his next few sentences politely. After a deep breath, he finally spoke.

"As the heir, your father has requested me to—

"And as the heir, I would like a break to hang out with my friend." Aomine gave an exasperated sigh. "Look, I know you're new here and you don't want to disobey my father's orders, but you're supposed to be serving me. And I need a break."

Kise almost felt bad for the guy. Though Aomine didn't word his words as harshly as he could, Kuroko looked rather nervous and troubled.

"I-If you're really that busy then you don't need to come…" the blond suddenly said. "It's not that important anyway...we can always do it another time."

"What are you saying? Of course it's important! We haven't seen each other in ages!" The dark haired man grinned, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "Kuroko—no, Tetsu, we'll be going! I'll be back in a bit!"

Kise heard Kuroko mumble a soft "It's Tetsuya, Aomine-kun," before being led outside by the said man. He was honestly ecstatic that they got the chance to hang out like this, but couldn't help but feel bad for taking up his time.

"Are you sure you can just leave that kid like that? What if your father gets angry?" he asked.

Aomine chuckled, his chest rumbling and making Kise realize that his arm was still around his shoulder. He gulped, trying to calm the blush on his cheeks.

"He may look like a kid, but you shouldn't call him one. Tetsu's the same age as us," he said in amusement.

Kise stopped and looked up at his friend, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Had he heard him wrong?

"What? The same age?!" he exclaimed, furrowing his brows in confusion. "I thought he was fourteen!"

Aomine doubled over in laughter, resting a hand on the blond's shoulder to steady himself.

"Make sure Tetsu doesn't hear that," he said while trying to calm down, unable to wipe the grin off his face. "I don't know what he'd do to you."

Kise immediately nodded, reminded that he had experienced perhaps only a tiny bit of this 'Tetsu's' wrath already and did not want to anger him any further. The guy may be small, but he wasn't someone to be messed with.

"So, how was the meeting your father took you to?" the blond suddenly asked.

"Boring," he said simply, sighing. "All this work is really stressing me out. Why the hell do I have to be in this position anyways?"

Honestly, Kise wondered that sometimes too, especially when the man had to cancel their plans because he was too busy. Why couldn't Aomine have an older brother? Why did he have to be the son of the head? Those questions came up whenever he sat alone, at a loss for what to do. Before being stuffed to the back of his mind to be forgotten of course. He knew he shouldn't be thinking such things, that he should be supporting his best friend and scolding him whenever he slacked off. But maybe Kise was just selfish.

The blond ridded his mind of those worries and laughed, playfully hitting Aomine's arm.

"All you do is complain," he teased. "The work may be hard now but I'm sure everything will be fine once all this training's over. You'll be a great leader," Kise assured with a smile.

The blue haired man sighed again, mumbling something about how he'd be angry if he wasn't after all this work he'd done. He then reached back and took an arrow out of his quiver, turning to his friend with a smile.

"I haven't done this with you in a while. Have you improved since last time?"

Kise nodded and took out an arrow as well, grinning.

"I'm not losing today."

Kise cried out in frustration when his arrow hit the edge of the target, hanging his head in defeat.

What was wrong with him today? He had been doing so well during his practices, the arrows so close to the center. Was he nervous? Was that the reason?

Aomine chuckled and walked over, gesturing for the blond to put up his bow again. He walked around behind him and placed his hands on his shoulders, pressing them down.

"You're too stiff and your posture isn't right," he explained, continuing to modify his stance. "Lower your center of gravity and make sure to distribute your weight evenly over your feet."

He placed his hands on his hips and pressed down lightly, all the while making Kise's cheeks heat. He told himself this was probably due to his embarrassment of needing to be taught this again after so many years of practicing.

He gulped, biting his lip as Aomine tilted his chin up with his finger, reminding him to make sure it was level with the ground. This close proximity with him was really making the man uncomfortable these days, and what bothered him more was that he didn't know why. Maybe it was getting more and more awkward between them since they didn't see each other as much anymore?

"Try shooting again."

Aomine's words directed Kise's attention away from his thoughts and his body suddenly stiffened, which earned a sigh from his best friend, who reminded him to relax.

Taking a deep breath, the blond calmly drew his bow and focused on the target. He wanted to prove that he could do this, that all that practice had actually paid off. He reminded himself once more not to think about anything else but the target and aimed his shot before letting the arrow go.

It hit the center.

Kise's lips stretched into a wide grin and he turned to his best friend.

"Look! I did it!" he exclaimed, pointing at the target some distance away. "I actually did it!"

Aomine smiled and ruffled his hair, praising him for the accomplishment. This sent the blond's spirits flying high and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

"Keep that up and maybe you'll beat me someday," the blue haired man said with a smirk.

Kise was about to promise him that he'd practice hard so he would, but something off to the side caught his eye.

A rabbit.

It was nibbling on the grass, lost in its own world and paying no attention to the two men at all.

And Kise didn't know why but he reacted on instinct, taking another arrow out and slowly drawing his bow. He had never shot an animal before, but he had seen many do it and wanted to try it out. The animal wasn't very close, but not too far either. He figured he could handle it.

"Kise, I don't think this is a good idea…" Aomine said quietly once he realized what the blond was doing.

He only shushed the man and raised his bow, aiming for the unmoving animal. He tried to remember what he had told him earlier. Lower his center of gravity, distribute the weight evenly…

In the midst of his concentration, Kise thought he heard a rustle somewhere near them. Afraid the animal would run away at the noise, he let go of the arrow and watched it shoot towards the rabbit.

Everything after that seemed to happen so fast yet so slow at the same time. A girl had stepped out in front of the rabbit, oblivious to the arrow shooting her way. But Kise had already let go and could only call out and pray that it missed her.

She seemed to be bending down to pick something up before she stumbled and fell down with a yelp. Frightened, the rabbit scurried off into the underbrush, though that was the least of their worries right now.

The two men rushed to the injured girl.

"I'm so sorry!" Kise cried as he dropped to his knees beside her, checking to see how serious the injury was. The girl was grabbing her ankle, her face twisted in pain, which made him panic even more. What had he done? How could he have not noticed her?

"Is she okay?" Aomine asked in concern, coming up beside his friend.

"I don't know!"

"I told you it wasn't a good idea." He sighed in disbelief.

Kise didn't bother to explain his actions to the man right now, as he was worried about the injured girl on the ground much more. Thank god it only looked like she got grazed, but it was nevertheless a wound.

"I'll take you to get this treated right away, okay?" he said gently, taking her arm and trying to help her up. "Can you walk?"

"Let go of me!" she cried, refusing to stand and shaking his hand off. "How dare you…" the girl's powerful voice trailed off as she raised her head, seeing Kise's face filled with concern.

The blond continued persist in helping her despite her protests. He had caused this and he needed to take responsibility, he told himself.

"You're hurt." Kise hesitantly took her arm again. "We need to get the wound cleaned and bandaged."

She complied quite easily this time and got up with his help. However, she winced once putting pressure on her feet and he quickly caught her when she stumbled, almost falling.

"Did you twist your ankle too?" he asked in concern, noticing a slight flush on the girl's cheeks when he looked down at her in his arms. A troubled look crossed his face and after a while of thinking, he spoke. "Here, I'll carry you. You can't walk like this."

Aomine stepped forward then, taking off his quiver and handing it to Kise.

"I'll carry her," he offered. "Just hold this."

"Release her immediately!" a voice suddenly shouted from behind them and they turned to see two men running towards him, armed with swords. "Step back!"

"Midorima!" the girl exclaimed in surprise.

"Are you alright, Shouko-sama?" The green haired man stepped closer to her, eyeing the two strangers. His gaze soon travelled to the blood dripping down her leg and glared at them in rage. "Unbelieveable! Takao, go call for the others! We need to bring these men to Akashi-sama!"

The other man nodded and immediately ran back, following the instructions given to him.

"A-Akashi-sama?" Kise stammered in shock, turning to look at Aomine with wide eyes. He stared back with the same expression. "H-He can't be talking about…"

Aomine didn't answer, but Kise already knew.

Akashi, that was the name of the imperial family. And the one the man was referring to was most definitely the emperor. If such a big deal was being made about a graze on the girl's leg, it could only mean one thing. She was royalty.

Kise wondered why he hadn't noticed her clothing before, which was a colourful silk kimono of many layers. That screamed royalty right there. But then again, he told himself, even if he had realized it earlier, it'd still be too late. He had let go of that arrow before she walked into his line of sight.

"It's alright, Midorima. I just came to pick up my bracelet..." the girl tried to say, but he had already shoved the two stunned men aside and picked her up.

They hardly had enough time to process what was happening when they were abruptly seized and taken to the chariot. The blond tried to look back at the girl again for an explanation, and their gazes locked. She looked somewhat apologetic, and then looked up at the green haired man with an annoyed expression.

"What are you doing?" Kise yelled in both panic and confusion, struggling in the men's iron grips. He knew where they were going, but he didn't want to believe it. This couldn't be happening. "Let us go!"

They were soon forced into the chariot, sitting across from each other and each between two of their abductors. The small space they were in was incredibly cramped, but that was the least of their worries right now. They didn't know what punishment awaited them at the palace, where they were most likely being taken, and they knew they wouldn't be able to get out of it.

When the vehicle shook and began to move, the blond looked up at his best friend in panic, his palms sweating like crazy. What had he gotten them into? This was all his fault.

He bit his lip and looked down at his lap, regretting all his actions up to this point. Not only he was in trouble now, but he had dragged Aomine along with him. That was probably the worst thing about it. If he had just convinced him to stay home and listen to both his servant and his father, then none of this would've happened. Or at least he wouldn't be mixed into this, something he didn't deserve to go through. What was the punishment for injuring royalty? Death?

Aomine saw the troubled look on his friend's face and felt anger rush through him. He knew that Kise had been reckless, but he didn't deserve a punishment for it. The girl had gotten grazed with an arrow and twisted her ankle for god's sake. She hadn't been stabbed. Why was this such a big deal?

Ah, of course he knew why it was such a big deal, but it wasn't fair at all.

He turned to glare at the man on his right, who was staring blankly into space.

"Let us go!" he yelled in anger. "It was an accident! We'll just get her wound treated!" He tried to break free from their grip, but his efforts were futile. Not only were they professionally trained, they outnumbered him, and managed to hold him back. "Let us go!" he repeated in frustration.

The men were expressionless as they held him still, perhaps sick of their job but having no choice but to put up with it.

"I'm really sorry…" the blond said quietly. He wasn't even sure his friend had heard him.

"Don't be. She was the one who came out of nowhere," he said. His voice was gentle, a contrast to how he had spoken to their abductors. "We'll be fine."

Kise shook his head.

"No, we won't. And I am sorry, for getting you mixed up in this. If there's anyone who should be getting a punishment, it's me," he said. "I hope Akashi-sama's considerate enough to let you go."

He heard a snort come from one of the men, which lowered his hopes significantly, but he tried to ignore them.

"Look, it's not your fault," Aomine said again, looking straight into his eyes. "It'll be okay. We'll find a way."

What's going to happen? Will Akashi forgive them? :O

Haha I hope you guys liked it and I'd love it if you reviewed/favourited/followed! Thanks so much!

(Pssst update dates are on my profile!)