Let Me Go

Chapter Three: A Distant Dream

When Syo woke up, he was hesitant to get up. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was only 7:00. He already knew that Kaoru was probably long gone so he continued to lay staring up at the dull ceiling. His eyes watered again thinking about his brother. How could he leave and not be there for their birthday... "Damn you, Kaoru. I hate you..." He whispered laying on his side. Without realizing it, he slowly started floating right back to sleep.

"Oh wow, look at the prince! He's so cute!" Squealed girls as the royal family road by in their open carriage. He was only the tender age of 8 yet the girls looked at him as if he were already an adult. His hair was a shade of blue that was unknown to many people but complemented his face well with eyes that were a lighter shade of that blue making him even more cuter. He had a look of boredom on his face while glancing around.

"Ne, Syo-Chan, look!" Said a boy who was about a year older than Syo and Kaoru. He had bright red hair that was in a messy style with warm ruby-eyes that gave a calm feeling whenever talking to him. The 6-year-old blond turned and looked to where he was pointing. "It's the prince."

Syo looked to where he was pointing and blushed seeing him. Trying to play it of as if he was cool, he walked away. "So what...it has nothing to do with us. He's just some snotty rich kid." He remarked as the red-haired boy followed him. He pouted and went in front of him, making Syo give him a look of confusion. "What?"

He examined his face more before giggling. "You're blushing, Syo-Chan. Was it the prince?" He asked with a bright grin.

"W-What! A-Are you crazy!?" Syo blushed harder, looking away. "Like I said...he's just some snotty rich kid. Why would anyone want to blush over that! He's probably stuck up and talks about high and fancy things like golden crowns and jeweled encrusted plates and..."

"I get it, I get it...you think he's hot and rich.."

Syo pouted making two small fist and glaring at him blushing even harder than before. "S-Shut up, Otoya! I don't like him!" He shouted earning looks from the crowd making him blush more. His loud proclaim even stopped the carriage that was moving. "Uh oh..."

Otoya looked at him laughing putting his hands behind his head. "Good job. You're cuteness actually did stop traffic." He said still laughing while Syo glared at him more turning around from the crowd. "Now everyone knows you like the prince."

"I don't not like the prince for the last time!" He shouted getting his, smiling face, while his remained bright red.

"How come?" An unfamiliar voice said making his glare drop. The two children turned and saw no one other than the prince looking right at them only a few feet away. They glanced at his clothes seeing he was wearing a white suit. Syo blushed even more as they both remained silent. "Well?"

"..." Syo couldn't find a response and just ran and hid behind Otoya who laughed at his younger friend. He tried to hide more to make himself invisible.

"Otoya!" A boy who looked only a year older than Otoya ran up behind him and punched him square on the head making him fall on the ground holding it. He had dark-blue hair with a lock in his face with matching color eyes. He was wearing the same school uniform as Otoya and Syo with an irritated face. "You two skipped school just to come to some parade?!"

"You didn't have to hit me!" Otoya whined holding it head sniffing while tears brimmed the corners of his eyes. "You're so mean, Tokiya..."

The prince coughed a bit to gain the attention of Tokiya. He straightened up and glanced at Syo and Otoya before bowing to him. "U-Uh...Y-Your highness! It's an honor to be in your presence. I'm sorry if these two idiots bothered you." He apologized quickly while Otoya whined again.

He instead pointed to Syo with a face that gave no emotion what-so-ever. "I want to know why he doesn't like me. I don't even know his name nor met him yet he declared profoundly in a very clarion timbre that he doesn't particularly care for me."

Syo made a face. He hardly understood half the words in his sentences yet he looked about Tokiya's age. But for some reason, he couldn't speak to him. "I-I...just...I don't."

Otoya laughed again. "Denial." Tokiya hit him again making him puff his cheeks with more tears appearing in his eyes. "Stop hitting me, Tokiya!"

"Stop acting like...you in front the prince." Tokiya hissed at him. "Baka."

Stepping closer to Syo, the prince tilted his head. "What's your name?" He asked, instead of further interrogating his reasoning behind not liking him. Syo mumbled something under his breath making the royal pout. "Talk louder. I can't possibly hear you unless you think I'm a mouse."

"I said I'm not telling you!" He said louder looking at him with the world's smallest glare but biggest blush. "I don't like you so why should I tell you my name! Besides my parents told me not to talk to strangers and...you are a stranger."

He smiled. "I'm sorry you feel that way...Shorty."

"Don't call me shorty!" Syo snapped out him.

"Well you won't give me your name." He shrugged laughing lightly at his red face. "And show a little respect, I'm a prince after all. Which means I'm technically, you're Senpai." His voice had a bit of humor hidden within it trying to see how mad he could make the younger boy.

His cheeks puffed making his cheeks even redder. "I really really hate you!"

His smile twitched before dotting his forehead hard making him hold it looking at him shocked. "That wasn't nice at all. I tell you to be respectful and you say you hate me. Just apologize and I won't have your parents punished."

"Sorry to break it to you but someone already beat you to the chase." Syo pouted looking to the side.

He tilted his head in confusion. "Are you an Orphan?"

"Take a wild guess. I thought you were smart, your highness." He teased at his title a bit with sassy tone. "Don't even bother being sympathetic with the 'I'm sorry'...I've heard enough of those.."

"I wasn't going to." The prince cut him off getting in his face. The blond's cheeks reddened a bit with him being as close as he was. "I was going to say that they deserved it." Otoya, Tokiya, and Syo's eyes widened from his cold words that stung the younger one's heart. "After all, if I had rude and disrespectful child like you, I would jump in front of a bullet and be the one who shot the gun. In my opinion, they are probably the lucky ones. Saw a chance to get rid you and took it. Who wouldn't?"

"..." He just stared him as his eyes burned with tears.

Seeing his shocked face made the boy smile turning away. "Well I must say, it was pretty pleasurable meeting your acquaintance, Shorty." He started walking. "And you might wanna see a doctor about your blushing problem..not to mention your eyes are watery."

"You jerk! They are both your fault!" Syo yelled at him earning gasps from the citizens who knew better than to yell at the prince. "I never met a such a horrible person in my life! I hope you get slapped in the face for being a huge-"

Tokiya covered his mouth holding him back. "Forgive him, please, your highness. He doesn't know any better." He tried apologizing so he friend would get in trouble or worse killed.

"I must admit...if he hadn't entertained me so much I'd have him in my dungeon in 10 minutes then be able to get home and watch him be hanged. I'll let this slide but if we ever cross paths again, he's going to be my prisoner." The prince turned partly to smirk at the two. "...who knows, I might even make him my slave."

"I'm no ones-"

Otoya, this time, covered his mouth standing up shaking his head. Tokiya gave Syo a look before bowing to the prince again. "Thank you for your kindness, My prince. I'll make sure he won't.."

"I'd actually like him too." He smirked before walking.

Syo managed to get out of his friend grasp and glared at him. "I've never be anyone slave! I hate you and I hope I have the joy in slapping you one day!"

"One day, Shorty."

The now teenage boy was jolted awake by the sounds of knocking on his door. He looked at through the darkness of his room room groaning a bit. It wasn't Kaoru because he had left the previous night and only one other person had a key to his house. Despite knowing this, he didn't get up and turned away from the door. "Who is it?"

"Who else but your best friends?"

Syo opened his eyes and turned back around getting up fast. "Ittoki-San? Ichinose-San?" He asked seeing the two figures in the doorway.

Otoya laughed a bit. "Will you drop the formalities? I know we haven't seen you in years but were already on a first name basis...Ne, Syo-Chan?" He gave him his classic smile that hadn't chance from when they were kids.

"I told you drop the Chan last time I remember it." Syo crossed his arms as Tokiya and Otoya walked over and sat in various spot of his room. "Anyway, what are you guys doing back? I thought you both were in a whole different continent studying music until you turned like turned old. You were so happy finally getting out of this run down place."

"Well we are taking a short break for a while." Tokiya told him with a smile. "Not to mention, we came to celebrate your birthday. You're 18 now well in another 14 hours or so."

"So..." Syo said softly looking down.

"What do you mean so?" Otoya asked with a small frown. "I've been waiting for this day since you were like 7. And it's pretty funny since you were the one who had declared with the world's cutest blush that you wanted us to be here when you became an adult. You know that I wasn't going to allow myself to break a promise I made to such a cute face."

The small blonde face went a bit pink looking at Otoya with a soft glare. "I told you not to call me cute!" He then looked down to his lap keeping his glare and blush. "I'm sorry...but I'm not in the mood. I'm happy to see you both after like 7 years and all but I wish I could be a full reunion rather than just us three."

Tokiya gave him a look. "Yeah...we noticed that Kaoru wasn't here. He actually left you a note if you want to read it."

He shook his head automatically no. "I don't want to. At least not now..." He smiled a bit looking at them. "Well what are we waiting for...I have a whole birthday to celebrate. Let's go do something!"


Kaoru looked at his map from the horse, pulling his cloak around him as the wind picked up. His horse jumped a bit and he calmed her. "Calm down, Phyllis." He looked back at the map. "We should have reached a town by now...Maybe we missed a turn."

He rode to a wooden directory and saw that it was all worn out. It was barely even readable. A small pout appeared on his face. This was gonna be much harder than he thought. Phyllis started to go in one direction before Kaoru pulled her back, forcing her in another.

"Come on. We'll try this way." He said brushed her mane. She gave a nod before running off. As the they kept down the eerie road, fog started to pick up and it became darker. The horse slowed a bit in order to get use to the surroundings. She caught glimpse of a shadow between the trees and jumped making Kaoru drop the map and look at her confused. "Phyllis?"

The female horse took off into the woods at a very fast speed while Kaoru was still trying to figure out what spooked her. He kept shouting at her to slow down but saw the shadows chasing her. She glanced behind her once to see, only to see them multiple in numbers. She ran to the river that much deeper than she thought. She neighed loudly feeling the frigid water and felt Kaoru shiver holding on to her while she swam across it.
Kaoru coughed a bit, looking around. Now he had no idea where the were..but what he did see made him tremble from fear in additional from being in the cold liquid. One jumped in front of Phyllis which made her jumped up again only to have Kaoru fall off. After that she took off.

"Phyllis!" He called standing back up with another cough. "Wait! Come back!" The horse did not returned but the wolves started towards him. He yelped running as fast as could away from the them but they started chasing after him. They kept gaining which each turn he did and he was getting low on speed. His face was red and his breathing was off but he was more focused on staying alive.

The wind was also against him, blowing his dark cloak back letting it get tangled in the branches slightly but he managed to get off before it could stop him. He reached a big gate and saw inside was a very large castle. A small glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes as he tried to open it turning around to see of the wolves had caught up.

He banged hard on them. "Help! Someone please help me!" The small blond cried out. Right as wolf jumped towards him, the gate swung open enough for him to get end before shutting as quickly as it opened. Kaoru attempted to catch his breath when he felt the tug of his cloak. One of the black wolves had grabbed it with their freshly sharpened teeth. He pulled at it causing the cloak to rip and him to fall on the ground hard.

The wolf spat out his half the cloth before growling at him once and disappearing into the woods with the rest of the pack. The fog picked back up so he couldn't see where the undomesticated animals went but he let out a sigh of relief seeing how the wouldn't be able to follow him anymore. Standing up and brushing himself off, Kaoru looked at the castle. It was even bigger than he had thought.

But why was there such an ominous yet solitary aura emitting from it's beautiful appearance?

I am so sorry I haven't updated! I'm been getting things together and better believe I'm going to get things done! You have my word as a Phantomhive that this story won't fail! You all can hold that against me too..But I had fun writing this chapter..The little Flashback was foreshadowing..And so Cute! The twist didn't happen just yet...Wait for it and I guarantee that you will love it! Thanks for your patience and for the follows and favorites! See ya in the next one!