By Cheeky
/Eight years ago/
He brushed back several loose strands of raven hair away from his sweaty brow as he sighed ruefully to himself. He should never have wandered away from the walk-path. No thanks to his impulsive action of running after the blue jay, he was now hopelessly lost. Sighing ruefully to himself, his keen ears suddenly picked up a soft mumble of faraway voices. Quickening his footsteps, he hurried towards the source, heart pounding excitedly against his chest.
Minutes later he had arrived at his intended destination. Looking upwards, blue eyes widened at the two small figures high up among the canopy of leaves, bright blades clashing in earnest battle. Reaching for the lowest branch, he began climbing upwards, all the while shouting loudly to gain the fighters' attentions.
"Excuse me for interrupting, but I'm lost and I was wondering if you could tell me- Oh!"
He stopped in mid-sentence upon realizing the two small figures were actually young elves, their pale skin a striking contrast with their head of dark ebony hair. Suddenly the shorter of the two scowled darkly as he pointed the sharp edge of the blade towards the young lad.
"What are you staring at, you human child?"
The chilly tone startled him and his fingers would have slid off the slippery moss had the other elf not made a sudden lunge for his arm. Panting a little as he was hauled to safety, he wheezed out his thanks with a weak smile.
The first elf tapped his foot impatiently, "I asked you, what were you staring at? Have you never seen an elf before?"
The human finally found his voice as he answered with a flippant grin, "I've seen lots of elves before, but I've never seen one as beautiful as you. . ."
To the boy's surprise, the first elf's pale cheeks started turning a bright shade of crimson as the taller elf laughed out loud at the compliment.
"You have a sweet tongue, human, I like that. . . Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Akira, and this is my younger cousin, Kaede. . ."
He extended his hand with a smile of his own, "Very pleased to meet you both, I'm Hisashi."
Looking over Akira's shoulder, the young boy then added with interest, "Were you both duelling moments ago?"
"Akira, I don't remember giving you permission to speak with the human. . ."
The taller elf merely grinned as he confined to the human in a low voice, "Kaede's a bossy little elf. . . it takes a little while to get use to. . ."
Then in a louder voice, Akira addressed his younger cousin, "Come on Kaede, Hisashi's lost. . . the least we can do is to direct him a way out of the woods. . ."
Kaede pursed his lips together in disapproval before replying with another dark scowl, "Then hurry up. . . the sun is going to set soon. . ."
Before Akira could speak, Hisashi interrupted his thoughts as he stated rather dubiously, "Aren't you both a little young to be playing with swords? I mean, they do look a little dull at the edges, but sharp enough to do some serious damage. Are your parents not worried that you might accidentally cut yourself?"
Akira's grin widened, "You're very perspective for a human. . . We've actually been forbidden to duel, but Kaede. . . besides being a bossy little elf, is also an extremely stubborn and rebellious elf. . ."
"Are you two done speaking already?" spoke Kaede with annoyance written clearly on his face as he began approaching the other two figures.
Akira turned half-way as he commented cheerfully, "Hisashi was just expressing his concerns in regards to our violent game. . ."
Kaede's eyes narrowed as he looked down at the sitting figure, "It's none of your business, human child. And besides, I have plenty of experiences. If you must know, I received my first bow-and-arrow set when I was eight, and my first sword when I was eleven."
Hisashi scratched his head as he posed another question, his brow furrowed with obvious worry, "You may say that. . . but isn't sword-fighting much too violent and dangerous for little girl elve- AAH!"
In an attempt to avoid the sharp end of Kaede's blade lunged without warning towards his head, Hisashi bend double and to his utmost horror, lost balance and promptly slid off the tree branch. As he began free-falling, Hisashi's hands reached up instinctively towards a hanging branch. To Akira's relief, the boy child successfully stopped from descending downwards. Then looking up towards the two faces peering down at him, one still reflecting a mixture of horror and relief, while the other remain strangely impassive, Hisashi yelled angrily with his feet hanging precariously over empty air, "Hey, what's the big idea?"
Kaede nimbly leaped two branches down, his sudden weight causing Hisashi's support to bend even further. Paying no heed to the boy's shout for him to get away, Kaede muttered between clenched teeth, "Who are you calling a 'girl'?"
Hisashi matched the elf's dark scowl with one of his own as he snorted derisively, "Ch, I take back what I said about you being beautiful. . . You're as violent as the next axe-swinging dwarf!"
He shuddered involuntarily when the elf's blue eyes turned extremely chilly. And Hisashi had a very bad feeling when the elf suddenly smiled thinly without humour.
"Like an axe-swinging dwarf huh?"
"Kaede, NO! Don't do it!"
Ignoring his cousin's shout of protest from behind, Kaede swung the metal blade and with a loud scream, Hisashi began plunging downwards. Reaching the young elf's side, Akira violently gripped Kaede's shoulders as he chided furiously, "You'll kill him!"
Shrugging off the hands, Kaede stated evenly, "The leaves will cushioned his fall."
Then without sparing his cousin another look, he sheathed his own sword before leaping towards a neighbouring branch. Shaking his head in disbelief at his cousin's callous behaviour, Akira replaced his own sword before leaping downwards. To the elf's utmost relief, he found the boy alive and well, if only a little dazed at the sudden drop.
He held out a hand, "Are you alright, Hisashi?"
Shakily getting to his feet, Hisashi spoke with a mixture of awe and disbelief, "I'm still alive. . ."
Akira answered in an offhand manner, "Yeah well, Kaede did say the leaves will cushioned your fall, and as much as it pains me to say this, he's right as usual."
Hisashi stared, "Did you just say Kaede's a 'he'?"
The elf grinned widely, "Uh-huh. That's why he gets so pissed off when others mistake him for a girl. . ."
Tilting his head backwards, Akira then added as his grin widened even further, "Come on, as a gesture of goodwill, and to apologise for my cousin's rude behaviour, I'll lead you out of the woods. Where are you staying, by the way?"
"At the House of Hanagata. . . my parents are guests there. . ."
Akira's smile faltered, "Oh dear, that means Kaede is going to get into some serious trouble later. . ."
Hisashi stared curiously, "What do you mean?"
The elf began walking as he gestured for the boy to follow, "Well, Kaede is the second son of King Toru, so uncle isn't going to be very pleased to hear what happened. . ."
"Don't worry, I have no intention of telling anyone about the incident. . ." stated Hisashi in a gracious manner.
To Hisashi's surprise, Akira merely threw him an unreadable look as he muttered more to himself than to the boy beside him, "Hmm. . . Kaede's not going to appreciate being indebted to a human. . . but I suppose he deserves it for his previous actions. . ."
Not quite catching the meaning behind the elf's words, Hisashi inquired further, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite get what you just said."
Akira patted the boy in a friendly manner, "Don't worry too much about it. Come on, we better get back before Kaede does, otherwise there's going to be more trouble than either of us hope to get out of. . ."
Still a little unsure of his saviour's enigmatic words, Hisashi could only nod in agreement as he doubled his pace. His thoughts however, were still full of the bossy little elf that had bewitched his senses and unknowingly ensnared his heart.
t.b.c.
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A/N: Harlo all again, it's been a while since I've written anything remotely shounen-ai-ish. Heh. =p Does anyone still remember me?? Anyways, if you're a SenRu fan, dun worry cause I hadn't abandoned my first love. ^___^ I've merely branched out a little cause the YAOI world needs more MitRu.. kekeke.. Anyhow, hope you all enjoyed the prologue, more happenings in the upcoming weeks! Needless to say, dun forget to review, otherwise I wouldn't know whether I have a happy audience or not. . Cheerios!~