To HHxHF4ever: I know some people dismiss errors as a way of being polite, but my English wouldn't be as readable as it is now if no one corrected me. What if I made the same errors again? If you aren't going to correct me, please do not tell me there are mistakes. That way I spend more time working on the plot than looking for errors. Thank you BeautifulXinXBlood for correcting me!
2 Jesters and a Minstrel
They say it was more common to curse the Hitachiin name then it was to call up your favorite savior in times of agony. You see, the Hitachiin family are an infamous group of thieving rouges. Their dark history started as a group of homeless Celts who killed for anything. You read that right, Japanese Celts were chased from their lands because the Japanese Franks didn't feel like sharing. If anyone remembers their history, when the Japanese Franks reach a certain level they evolve into Japanese French, so no one was really surprised.
Once the Hitachiin realized they were so good at stealing with word craft and disguises they stopped pointlessly stabbing people. In fact, they got so good at stealing they could easily afford the best housing as well as steal it (Stealing still preferred). Their egos grew so great that they started establishing rules to challenge themselves (like stabbing is cheap). They say the only way to identify one was by their slick body build and red hair. One could also say that's prejudice, but this is over five hundred years ago and no one could give a damn about your hurt feelings.
With a family this crazy, it makes one wonder why the kingdom of the Ootori hasn't been stolen twice. Well, the reason why dear reader is because several years before the Shadow Prince was born, a sheriff from unknown lands had decided to face the Hitachiin himself. Apparently were he was from, their actions were unacceptable.
Since the Hitachiin were playful as well as crafty nothing went as planned. Fortunately he had brains on his side and the worst thing that happened was that he and the heir of the thief family had fallen in love. In order for there to be some sort of peace, they came to an agreement: If he could not show them the proper way to make a living in this day and age he would become a thief instead. The Queen of Thieves laughed, habits die hard when you became rich by stealing. That, and the family's reputation was so shot it was impossible to find a job whilst having the last name Hitachiin.
Then the man introduced the Queen of Thieves into the world of theater and fashion design.
That shut her up.
And since the heir of the Hitachiin family was a woman, children happened. They had two sons, both of them twins. It was a question if they were a blessing or a curse to the family. Born in the midst of a great change of lifestyle for the family, one could stay the twins felt misplaced. Father would say one thing,
"Stealing is wrong."
Mother something completely different,
"Don't be stupid, wait until no one is looking!"
Not to say that the twins did not love their family, but they didn't help their twisting psych. You see, they were monoamniotic twins (Not that people living five hundred plus years ago would know what monamniotic meant). Twins were rare enough as it was, but to have two look so identical left not just outsiders confused, but the servants and family members themselves.
As much as the Hitachiin did not care to rule anything further than their property, but they also did not like being told what to do. Because of this, map makers had to make sketchy guesses. Whatever was not claimed in the western lands of the Suoh or by the eastern kingdom of the Ootori was Hitachiin. They didn't bother much with upkeep, it was only thanks to the twin's father and friendly commoners did foreigners know what the laws of the land were. Which was all fine and dandy until egos from the east started bleeding into their territory.
The Hitachiin may not post road and territory signs, but as thieves you can imagine how miffed they would be if someone stole their rightfully stolen stuff. Especially since they promised to stop blatantly stealing. Not having anything remotely resembling an army, the Hitachiin had to ask help from the kingdom of the west. The kingdom of Suoh was powerful because their army was directed by the Morinozukas, but they kept mostly to themselves. So much so that only people who lived in the deeper parts of their land had any idea what was going on politically.
The twin's father and his wife tried multiple times to convince the Queen to confront the Ootori. But as they were to find out, the old Queen didn't gave a damn. Being an honest man (and trying to prevent his new family from returning to the shadows of crazy), he kept trying just the same. His sons however, were getting sick and tired (read: really really bored) of all of this political business. None of it was getting anywhere. So they did a little research. That's where they learned that the Suoh family wasn't as heir-less as they first appeared.
For some reason, the prince was not at the royal main house but in a far off lord's estate. Yes, he was illegitimate, but it didn't seem like the Queen's son was having any luck with the woman he was married to. The twins wondered why they couldn't have pretended the child was a pure blue blood. It wasn't until the twins finally found him they saw why.
It would be very hard to explain where all of that blond and purple eyes came from.
Shaking their heads to remove the shock, they set up plan A: Kidnap Prince Suoh Tamaki and send a ransom note to the Queen 'signed' by the Ootori. Danger to the next heir was always a guaranteed war, they've read their history even if the readers hadn't. All the same, they decided to play it safe and not confront him until he had left the estate.
Slightly frustrated after arguing with his caretaker, the Prince had decided to go on a little stroll to talk to his woodland friends. Just as he closed the yard gates behind him however, he was confronted by two lanky boys, seemingly his age.
"May I help you?" Tamaki blinked repeatedly. The boys in front of him were wearing identical clothing, giving the appearance, and feeling as if he were seeing double. The twins sneered at his reaction before bowing low before him.
"We have been searching-" the left one began.
"Searching a long time." The right added before the left took over again causing Tamaki's head to turn back and forth as if he were watching a ping pong game.
"We have come-"
"...to take you on an adventure-"
"...it will be long and hard-"
"...as adventures are-"
"...but if you pass all of your trials-"
"...if you have shown your worth-"
"...you will have proven to the Queen-"
"...that you can rule a country-"
"As Prince Tamaki." They both finished with another bow. They played up their warm and welcoming faces to the speechless blond. Well, he was speechless for about half a minute.
"I'm a- I'm a what?"
"You don't know?" The right one bit out before the left could stop him. "A prince. You know, someone born from royalty?"
"I know that! But that means- that means I'm a prince?" Tamaki nearly squealed before cramming his hands up to face to quieten himself. The twins frowned, upset at forgetting that plan A never works. Before they could correct themselves however, Tamaki removed the finger cage from his mouth, making a high pitched shriek that vaguely resembled laughter.
"I always knew God had something in store for me!" He paused to give a twirl. "With good looks like these, who could believe I was just some lord?" It took the twins a moment before they realized the bastard legs weren't broken, but he was dancing. "A prince! A prince!" The twins exchanged looks (warning, you may read that line a lot) before coming to the same conclusion:
He's an idiot!
"Um, Prince Tamaki?" The left one pipped up while giving a reassuring pat to his brother's back. "You must pass several tests before we can be sure you are fit to be prince-"
"Yes! Yes! Understandable!"
"No one must know you are a prince."
"But why?" The twins narrowed their eyes as they noticed Tamaki's eyes beginning to tear up. "I just learnt it myself!"
"Part of the trial." The right one bit out. "Do you want to do this or not?"
"Can you sing?" The left one said calmly. Tamaki decided he had to be the nicer one.
"Oh yes! My favorite song to sing is-"
"Great." Okay, not too much nicer. "Can you play an instrument?"
"I play piano-" He flinched as one of the twins shoved a large hollow wooden thing into his hands.
"Well now you play the banjo." The twins demanded..
"Oh." Tamaki responded, looking at his fated instrument sadly. "Why?"
"For your trials, you must go undercover." The right one pointed.
"No one must know who you are." The left one nodded.
"But no one knows I'm a prince!"
"No one can know you are Suoh Tamaki either."
"Why not?"
"It's a secret!"
"They let you keep your last name, why didn't you think you were related?"
"Coincidence?" Tamaki shrugged. The twins then performed a face palm, it was very good.
After getting over the fact of how dense of a prince they had on hand, the twins reassured themselves things were going to go smoothly. No wonder the Queen has him way out here near our border. He's a headache to talk to.
They snuck around to pack his things and take whatever pretty little trinkets they thought may help pay for their travels east. Against Tamaki's wishes they packed light. Against their wishes they packed some weird old teddy bear.
"I can't sleep without him." Tamaki assured them. Thinking back now, it wasn't the worst thing he made the twins do. "I don't want to carry this!" The blond wailed not long after they walked onto a forgotten old dirt road. "My back won't take it!" He gasped as his knees hit the dirt. The twins couldn't say for sure, but it was as if a light from the heavens shinned directly above the prince to emphasize his distress. "Can't we get a donkey or a horse to carry this stuff?" He sobbed to the earth.
"It's part of the trial." They rolled their eyes. "You have to carry your stuff." Actually, they wanted to say it was common courtesy to carry your own shit, but they wanted to make this war begin as smoothly as possible.
"No! I refuse!" A strange gleam entered Tamaki's eyes making the twins step back. "I'm the prince and you should obey me!" As he stood up, he gracefully swung his backpack off and to the twins feet.
"What the hell-" The right one hissed before the left one squeezed his shoulder and shook his head.
"Just let it go for now. We're almost to Munich."
"Fine." The right one growled as he lifted Tamaki's bag. "But he has to carry his damn bear!" He slammed the brown toy to the road.
"Kuma, noooo!" Tamaki cried as he hugged the worn object tightly. "Don't worry, I'll protect you!"
Thankfully, yet somewhat unbelievably they managed to walk the rest of the day without much talk from the prince. It wasn't until the twins were setting up camp did Tamaki let out a sound that resembled a mouse about to be crushed.
"Oh!"
"What?" The twins echoed, turning around with shared annoyed looks.
"In all of this excitement I forgot to ask for your names!" He waved his arms to emphasize, not unlike an Italian.
"It doesn't matter." The left one sighed.
"You'll never remember which one of us is who." The right shrugged with his twin but Tamaki only smiled.
"This is one of the tests right? You can't fool me! What are your names?"
"He's Hikaru." The left one pointed.
"And he's Kaoru." The right one pointed back.
"Hikaru and Kaoru." Tamaki nodded. "Got it."
"No, you don't." They said as if completely convinced. After all, not even their own family, a group of people once disguise specialist couldn't even tell them apart. Even Kaoru didn't know if he was originally Kaoru and if Hikaru was even Hikaru. One day, they had decided to label themselves who was who because at least someone had to know. They weren't sure if it was a curse or a blessing, but they would take as much advantage as they could, no matter how much it hurt.
They would camp in the forest and steal rides and borrow wagons tomorrow. Whatever it took to get them faster into the eastern lands. Unfortunately for the twins, personality disorder was the least of their problems. Their plan had many flaws that they could conceivably be improved for solutions the whole way through, but the one thing they did not plan for was if the Suoh Queen cared in the first place.
"When will the Ootori realize when we are not interested in business?" The Queen tossed the unopened letter back at her servant. "Burn this at once."
"Yes, m-my Queen..."
Well, damn.