First Knight
By Arysta
He hated that he needed her. That they needed her. That the world itself needed her. Were it up to him, Sasame and the others would have been the ones to find her and gain her trust. Eventually, they would have been the ones to introduce her to the Pret. Eventually.
Fate had, apparently, had other ideas.
Hayate rubbed his hand against his leg, wishing that he could rub away with memory of her touch as easily.
It shouldn't have happened! He had just had to wait until she was found—and they way they were looking for her, it would not have been too long. A day, two at most, and she would have run into one of the other Knights.
But instead, she ran into him.
He fisted his hand, feeling a bolt of pain travel through his shoulder. He couldn't even fault her for that. How could he fault her for not understanding the nature of the Pret when she hadn't even been explained the concept yet? Not to mention the hit he'd gotten before she had even come back. Come back to fight….
"Hayate. Are you alright?"
He looked up. Kei was framed in the doorway of his apartment. "I'm fine," he said. "The bleeding has almost stopped."
Kei raised one golden brow.
Hayate grit his teeth and lifted his arm to show the other Knight the slowly-healing wound. "Is that sufficient?"
"I'm convinced," Kei said.
"Then, if you don't mind, please be convinced elsewhere."
"My, my, aren't you in a temper!"
"Leave him alone, Kei." Sasame said, ducking his head into the room.
With one last look, Kei wandered away.
Hayate lay back on the bed, letting his muscles unclench for the first time in what seemed like long hours.
The others were celebrating—as well they should. A new Pretear. The chance to end Fenrir's evil forever. Fenrir, who was Takako. Did anyone remember that?
This new Pretear. Himeno was her name. He said it aloud, quietly, just to savor the sound. His hand still tingled from the shock of that first touch. It was something he had never felt, the initial Recognition that made Princess known to Knight—and vice-versa.
Was that what made his heart pound, what fostered this incredible feeling that throbbed throughout his body? Did Recognition bond Knight in Princess in ways that he had never known? He felt driven to protect her, to keep her safe—to keep her at his side. To be her sword and shield. To be her Knight.
He tried to laugh the feeling off. He turned on his side, peripherally hearing the voices of the others rising and falling with their conversations. It had been years since he had even spoken with a Princess capable of Pret. It was only normal that he had forgotten the intensity of the feelings that such contact engendered.
He looked up as the door shut.
Sasame stood, his hand on the knob. "I thought we should speak."
"Of?" For no reason at all, Hayate found his heart was pounding. He sat up in the bed, grabbed his shirt and swung his legs over the side. He was not going into this conversation at a disadvantage.
Sasame made himself comfortable on the chair across the room. He leaned forward, perching his elbows on his knees. "Do you remember the day we found Takako?"
"Of course!"
Sasame smiled. "You were so eager to be the one to find her—to be the First Knight."
"Was I? I don't remember such things…" It was a lie. All too well he remembered how he had set out to find the woman who would be their Princess. Eager, nay, impatient, to find her.
But Sasame had found her first.
"It leaves a mark on your heart," Sasame said, dragging Hayate back to attention, but Sasame hadn't even noticed his drifting off.
Hayate pulled himself together. "It left a mark on my face," he said, rubbing the spot where Himeno had punched him.
Sasame laughed. "That's not what I meant." He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "When I became Takako's First Knight, Kei came to my, as I come to you now."
It wasn't a secret that Kei had been First Knight before Takako became Pretear. Kei, who held secrets deeper than them all, who was no stranger to the sorrow of loss.
"What did he tell you?" Hayate hoped his voice was steady.
"He told me that my feelings were normal. That it was how things were meant to be. That a First Knight will always love his Pretear above all things—even the Liefe itself."
Hayate looked away, ashamed. To be bared so…
"Trust your feelings," Sasame said in a whisper. "You are hers now, Hayate, and she will be your Pretear. All the Knights will support her—and yes, you will have to share her with us all!—but you will be the one who she will come to most readily."
"She feels this too?" Hayate didn't know how to feel about such a circumstance. Certainly his duty was to the Princess. Protection and love had always been part of the equation, though never so strongly as he felt now. In his current state it would be a fight to resist, should she ask him anything, even his own death as entertainment.
"No."
Startled, Hayate glanced up. Sasame's face was turned away, his hands curled into fists on his thighs. Belatedly, he remembered that day, when Takako had proclaimed her love—for him. The insight was humbling. How Sasame must have felt!
Hayate bowed his head. "Does it get … easier?"
"Never."
Sasame stood. "Do you have any questions regarding the bond?"
Bond? Something so strong as that?
"No," Hayate said.
"Then I will rejoin the others." He left silently.
Hayate stared at the closed door. First Knight. A term that felt right, though he had never before heard it. A term that described him--now.
He remembered her hand in his own, her sweeping emotions as the Pret overtook them both. First Knight.
A true bond.
He stared at his hands, normal-looking, undamanged.
They still tingled with her touch.
END