...You guys are gonna hate me so much for this. I'm sorry it sucks so badly. I'm so sorry.
Summary: —
Disclaimer: I don't own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club.
[CHAPTER SEVEN: "DAY ONE— BEGIN!"]
"You— the Prince's personal assistant for three days?"
Rei threw his head back and laughed, the high-pitched sound causing several of the camels inside the stables to jump to attention, looking around — alert — before lowering their heads again, going back to their early morning breakfast. Stationed just in front of his own camel, Haruka frowned.
"It's not that funny," The recent nomad-turned-servant-boy said coldly, his face scrunched up into a look of slight agitation as he rubbed the top of Baa-chan's head while the camel ate. Rei snickered some more before allowing his laughter to die down considerably, reaching up and wiping away a tear from the corner of his right eye.
"Oh, but it is," The blue-haired guard said as he smirked, adjusting his glasses as he looked over towards his companion. Haruka wasn't sure he liked Rei having a reason to be so amused.
"Why?" Haru questioned, scratching behind one of Baa-chan's small ears. The camel gave a grunt, raising her head from her bucket of chow before shaking it. At this act of rejection towards his actions, Haru drew his hand back, letting it drop down to hang by his side; he'd forgotten how sensitive and ticklish Baa-chan's ears were. Sorry, He silently apologized.
"Well," Rei pushed himself away from the wooden column he'd been leaning against, stepping carefully over a pile of hay that had a suspicious amount of flies buzzing around it. "I'm not sure you're up for the job. All you've really done thus far is submerge a Princess underwater, am I right?" Rei asked with a triumphant, know-it-all sort of smile as he gazed upon the shorter boy. The thinner of the two frowned.
So he knows about that, huh? Gossip must be bad here, Haruka thought, not recalling telling the guard about the incident, as microscopic of a deal as he'd found it. Sure, he had told Rei that the Prince had decided to make him his personal assistant just a few brief moments before when they'd come out to see Baa-chan, but he hadn't said as to why. With the way Rei was taunting him now, it made sense why the taller male hadn't immediately questioned him in that surprised, disbelieving tone Haru had found he used often; he'd already known why.
Haruka's stomach gave an offended flip and the male scowled, turning his head away.
"Whatever," Haru mumbled, not quite finding himself really caring how Rei saw him, and he gave Baa-chan a few last words of farewell before he turned away, walking past Rei and making his way out of the stables. The glasses-wearing guard blinked, turning his head to follow Haru as he watched the servant boy go, and he frowned, glancing back at all the camels in their stables, who all seemed to be looking at him now. They looked to be plotting against him— or maybe that was just his paranoia.
"W-Wait, don't leave me alone with them!" Rei called, quickly following after Haruka, having to venture over several more piles of hay on his way out that he didn't seem to remember being there when they came in.
Minutes later, after a quick apology from Rei for being a bit overbearing with his taunting, the two made amends and went their seperate ways for the day. Rei went off towards the eastern end of the palace, claiming to have some business there, while Haruka headed in the direction of the throne room, recalling that he was supposed to be meeting the Prince there that morning.
"Excuse me," Haruka mumbled as he slowly pushed open the door he'd seen most commonly used to enter into the throne room— the one located just between the fourth and fifth torches lining the right most side of the throne room. The black-haired male slowly peered into the large room, glancing around, before he let himself push the door he was peeking around fully open, his hand remaining on it's handle.
"He isn't here yet," Haruka commented to himself as he slowly entered into the room, noting that the cold stone steps felt nice against the bottoms of his bare feet. The blue-eyed servant looked around, supposing he was supposed to wait for the Prince, and soon found himself moving over to the other side of the fifth torch, side-stepping to get away from the flickering flame settled upon the bundle of wood. He turned his attention towards one of the many small tunnels constructed into the throne room wall, stepping forward to get a closer look. He hadn't gotten the chance to get a good look at them yet.
Beautiful, The blue-eyed male thought, peering into the tiny tunnel at the water flowing inside it. The light from the torches hit the water well, Haruka noted, watching as the nearby fire made the water shine and glisten. He blinked, slowly bringing up his right hand his index finger already posed to reach out and touch the small stream of water.
That was when he heard it: a grunt, followed by a loud, bellowing snore. Haruka paused in his pursuit of the water, glancing behind him.
I thought there was no one here? He thought as he turned around, allowing himself to temporarily forget about the water tunnels all around him; he was sure there'd be other chances for him to examine them and take notes of what the water inside them was like.
The boy walked forward, stopping just in front of the stairs leading up to the King and Queen's thrones. He glanced to his left, blue eyes scanning the palace entrance; he briefly found himself wondering if one of the guards positioned on the other side of the entryway had fallen asleep. And Rei thinks I did a bad job yesterday? Haru frowned, ready to go investigate. That snore had been something fierce— and bad on his ears.
Then he heard it again, however this time it came from behind him. The black-haired male whirled away from the palace entrance, his eyes slowly roaming, making their way up the stairs in front of him. His eyebrows raised.
Up atop the platform, settled comfortably into the Queen's throne and seeming to be sound asleep, was the Prince. The cerise-haired male was slouching, his elbow resting against the arm of his mother's throne as he leaned against it. He was the one snoring.
"Oi," The male called up, cupping one hand around the side of his mouth to help project his voice. The Prince did not stir. Haruka scowled. "Oi!" He called again, louder this time. Still nothing.
What do I do? Haruka thought, frowning as Rin snored particularly loudly. Can I go up there? He wondered, giving a cautious glance to the bottom of the staircase leading up to the platform. Will there be consequences? His frown deepened at the thought; like hell he wanted any more of those.
Just as Haruka was thinking all this, trying to decide whether or not he wanted to risk getting into more trouble by going up there, where perhaps only royals belonged, a figure stepped up beside him.
"Having some trouble, young man?" A hoarse but feminine voice asked from beside Haruka, causing said blue-eyed male to glance to his side, blinking.
Beside him now, where there had been no trace of her in the room at all beforehand and he hadn't heard anyone come in, was an old woman. She stood at just about four feet tall — though Haru was sure she'd stand to be taller if she wasn't as hunched over as she was — and wore what could only be described as a brown dress with a white cloth holding her stringy, gray hair back from her face. Her face was covered in wrinkles and her nose was rather large, Haru noted. She smelled strange— Haruka distantly, for a split second, thought she smelled like the palace stables.
"Yes," Haru finally answered in a mumble, turning his gaze away from the elderly woman and glancing back up at the platform overhead. The woman gave a high-pitched laugh. Haruka flinched.
"Don't be too concerned about it. You need to speak with him, right? So go on up there and wake him up. He won't mind— trust me." The woman winked up at Haru, who looked back at the thrones. Trust her, she says. "Okay." He decided to take her advice, slowly beginning to proceed up the stairs. What else could he do? His calling wasn't helping any. The woman smiled, watching him go.
"Um, Your Princeliness," Haruka mumbled as he stood atop the platform, slowly reaching out and shaking the Prince's shoulder. When the taller male didn't budge, Haruka frowned. The boy turned his head to the side, glancing down towards the bottom of the staircase and shooting the woman a sort of look that said, "What now?"
The woman was gone, however. Haru frowned, stepping closer to the edge of the platform and glancing around, scanning the floor below. "Where did she go?" He wondered aloud, flinching as the Prince spoke up behind him.
"Who?" Rin asked with a soft snicker, causing Haruka to turn around to face him. The frown on the black-haired servant's face deepened; the Prince didn't look like he'd just woken up at all.
"You were awake," Haru said in a dull, unamused tone, and Rin laughed. "Sure was," He confirmed with a nod, sitting up and cracking his neck. Haruka scowled. "So why didn't you answer me?" He asked. Rin simply shrugged.
"I wanted to see what you would do," The male said, standing from his mother's throne. He'd made it a point to sit in her's rather than his father's; the King didn't like when other people, even his own children, sat in his throne, but the Queen tolerated it— sometimes she even encouraged it. "One day you'll be sitting up on this platform, Rin," She'd say to him in that sweet, kind voice of her's. "So go ahead and get used to it." She wanted him to get used to being in such a seat of power.
"I didn't expect you to start talking to yourself," Rin said, rubbing his neck as he approached Haruka, brushing past the boy with a smirk. "Weirdo— follow me," He ordered, proceeding to descend down the staircase. Haruka watched him go. Talking to myself? He repeated inwardly and frowned, slowly moving to follow the Prince.
"Talking to myself... Was I?" Haruka asked aloud, following behind Rin at a pace that Nitori would have — had he been there — insisted was too close, just an inch or two shy of walking directly beside the Prince, which was a definite no-no. Rin laughed.
"Yep, you sure were. What— got an imaginary friend or something?" The Prince asked, glancing back over his shoulder at Haru and laughing in a teasing sort of manner. Haruka scowled, shaking his head.
"No. There was an old woman," The boy tried to defend himself, causing Rin to laugh again, shaking his head. "You're an odd one, aren't you? There are no old women here; there aren't even any female servants." Rin stated, causing Haruka to raise an eyebrow. No female servants? He repeated, Then... who was that? The boy wondered. Had he really been talking to himself just seeing things?
A shiver moved through his body and Haruka shook his head. No, there was someone there, He told himself, positive of the fact. He didn't care what Rin said; he'd seen someone.
"Oi, don't get too caught up over it. Nitori had an imaginary friend when he was younger, too— so you're already following in his footsteps perfectly. Now, come on," Rin called from far ahead of him and Haruka just then realized the Prince was already at a door located to the left of the thrones, pushing it open and preparing to exit the throne room. The Prince glanced over his shoulder at him now, smirking.
"You're my personal assistant for three days, remember? Time to get to work. And your first task is one I'm sure you'll find real fun," Rin said, a smug look on his face. Haruka grunted, following after Rin as he exited the room.
Somehow I really doubt that, The boy thought, shutting the door behind him as he passed through the doorway.
And behind the Queen's throne, the old woman Haruka was so sure he had seen and spoken to peeked out, glancing in the direction of the door the newly-acquainted duo had just exited out of. She gave a high-pitched laugh.
Always an odd one, aren't you— Haruka?
[CHAPTER SEVEN: "DAY ONE— BEGIN!" END]
I'll be honest— this is the first chapter I would consider so bad I feel like crying. I'm sorry, guys. No— you don't need to review or whatever. It sucks, I know. But the feels from the actual Free! anime are too much and my mind is buzzing with all these possibilities and I've hardly slept the last two or three and says and ugghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Another chapter is going up tomorrow so I promise the first day will be better next chapter. I just want the three days to have, like, a lot of symbolism, I guess you could say. And yeah. I'm so sorry. Leave me alone.
