Title:Trials of Time
Part: 4/?
Author: Nanako
Genre:Romance, au
Pairing:RuHana, KoshSen, MakiJin, HanaFuji (Hanagata)
Rating:PG
Archive: 1. it's ok for me if you archive this fic to sdfic ML
2. This fic is not posted in any other archive
E-mail:ishpoof@i-manila.com.ph
Warning: the characters are extremely ooc, bad choice of words, cursing
Author's notes: Haruko bashing ^^. I couldn't find anyone else who would do anything to get Kaede's love.gomen. Oh and this chapter is longer than my usual.
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is Takehito Inoue's and will never be mine (sob)
CHAPTER 4
After a whole day of preparation after the emperor's blessings, the five royal siblings and their companions, journeyed out of the capital and headed towards the forests near the edge of the border where they were to hunt.
Gen. Shinichi and Gen. Toru, on their white steeds, led the hunting party. Before leaving the imperial capital, they were tasked by the emperor himself to safeguard all five of his children from the moment they step off the capital's soil till the time they returned home.
The troops they had brought along with them formed a defensive formation around the five royalties.
Princess Akira stayed directly behind the two generals, her long black hair- still kept loose-fell against the pure white of her stallion.
Beside her, on a dotted stallion, but no less as majestic, was the ever- faithful Lt. Hiroaki. Ever since the journey began, he never, even once, failed to lose his concentration to make sure that the princess that he loved would be safe the whole time he was by her side.
Behind them, rode the crown prince Kiminobu, Prince Hisashi, Prince Ryota and Prince Kaede. All four princes were on identical black stallions.
Among the five, Prince Kaede was the only one who was fond with animals. And the reason why he actually agreed to come along was because he wanted to escape from the bustling and noisy imperial capital. It was never his intention to even hurt a small animal, much more, to hunt.
Everyone in the hunting party had their steeds chosen for them. But the youngest prince chose his stallion for himself. While everyone else would choose a stallion for its beauty, grace and speed, Prince Kaede chose his just for the sole reason that it was his favorite stallion, for this stallion was taken care of by the prince ever since it was but a mere foal.
He loved the birds he saw up in the sky, he loved the small animals which scurried in the imperial gardens, and of course the stallions, mares and foals which were kept in the stables. But there was one animal which he kept dear to his heart, an animal which he loved the most - the fox.
When Prince Kaede was a mere five year old boy, Kiminobu, who was also a young boy at that time, found a lone black fox pup when he and his father traveled to another city. He had taken the black fox home and had given it to his baby brother as a present.
It was love at first sight and the little Kaede was overjoyed at the little black fur ball Kiminobu had brought home for him. Ever since that day, the young prince took care of the fox - which he named Shadow - and the fox never left his side.
So they practically grew up together and were very close, so close that Shadow, more often than not, protected Prince Kaede more diligently and profusely than any other person.
Prince Kaede had grown so fond of Shadow that the fox was always with the prince, wherever he went.
The whole trip to the forest took about 5 days of nonstop travel. Both Lady Kenji and Lady Souichirou insisted that they set camp each day as soon as night falls, since they feared the deterioration of the princess' and princes' health.
But the five were so hardheaded to go on with the trip that the two Ladies had no other choice but to comply.
That was why, within five days, they were able to reach their destination.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Gen. Shinichi sighed. He had just finished giving orders to his quite restless men and he had wished that the five royal siblings would just go to sleep.
He entered his tent and Lady Souichirou greeted him with a smile which never ceases to warm his heart. "You deserve some rest Shinichi, it has been a tiring trip. But..."
She approached him and held his hand in both of hers. "Come, their royal highnesses are waiting for us by the campfire."
Gen. Shinichi sighed again, the only sign he showed of weariness, as he allowed himself to be led by his wife to the campfire outside, where the crown prince Kiminobu wished everyone to spend some time to chat and perhaps have a light snack with his friends and family.
"Majesties," the couple greeted as the general bowed slightly and his wife curtsied, then they sat down beside Gen. Toru and Lady Kenji, just in front of the campfire. He looked around. Strange, only the crown prince, Prince Hisashi and Prince Ryota were there. Where were Princess Akira and Prince Kaede? Gen. Shinichi knew that the princess and the youngest prince loved these sorts of things the most out of the five, why then were they not here?
He looked at his wife first then at his two close friends and colleagues, and on their faces, he saw eyes shrouded in worry, probably the same expression could be found on his face this exact moment too, he believed.
Once they had settled down, Prince Kiminobu stood up, looked at the two generals and their wives, and said, "Dear generals and Ladies of my father's court, please forgive our insistence of not stopping in camps for the whole trip."
Then he sat down. Gen. Toru, after noticing that Gen. Shinichi was too tired to counter what the prince had said, took the responsibility upon himself. He stood up and addressed the crown prince, "Prince Kiminobu, the pleasure is ours to accompany you and make sure that you and your siblings are safe during the whole trip."
"But...," the prince started as his worried brown eyes glanced at the tired physique of Gen. Shinichi.
"You're tired, because of us," Prince Kaede finished for his brother as he and Shadow approached the group. "Akira's exhausted and she told me to inform you guys that she won't be coming over. Lt. Hiroaki is watching over her and I doubt anything foul will befall her as long as he is by her side."
He looked at the generals with warm blue eyes and said, "I know that the two of you are very tired. There is no reason not to voice it out to us. Remember, this is not our father's court, where you are obliged to keep quiet and await further commands. We aren't even in the capital, we are miles from it. All we ask from you is your loyalty to us and our dynasty, we aren't asking you to become robots or anything. Complain if there is something to complain about and scold us if we do something wrong. We do not bind you out here at all, rather, we give you full freedom to do what you think is right. Because you are our "guardians" in this trip, you have the power to rectify our wrongdoings."
"Kaede..."
Prince Kaede did not mind his brothers' confused gazes and Prince Kiminobu's awed one. He just looked at the shocked faces of the generals as ell s their wives, awaiting what they had to say.
"I...I ...,"stammered Gen. Toru. He looked at the prince and Kaede nodded for him to continue. The nervous general sighed, shook his head and said, "You HAVE grown up my prince. For you to treat us as such is such a great honor."
"We are friends Gen. Toru," said Prince Kaede simply, as if that explained everything.
Prince Kiminobu looked up and smiled at his youngest brother. "You surprise me Kaede. For you to say words which even I have no courage to say is so...so...fantastic!"
Prince Kaede returned his smile and said, "Courage is what it takes to be a good leader big brother, our father used to say that. And, on my opinion, I think you already possess enough of it to become the most worthy among us to become the heir to the throne." He then looked at the others and bowed, "Forgive me, but I will excuse myself from this gathering at this moment. For tomorrow I will leave the encampment at an early hour." And without another word, Prince Kaede left with Shadow.
"I believe he plans to leave alone again tomorrow," said Prince Hisashi, shaking his head.
"He won't be alone Hisashi,' corrected the crown prince.
"Yeah," Prince Ryota agreed. "Shadow is enough of a bodyguard for Kaede."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Prince Kaede passed by Princess Akira's tent before he proceeded to his own. As he had expected, Lt. Hiroaki was standing guard outside her tent.
"Majesty!" greeted the startled lieutenant as Prince Kaede and Shadow strode towards the tent.
"Shhhh," said the price as held his right index finger to his lips and pointed towards his sister's tent. "You might disturb her."
"I'm sorry majesty," apologized the lieutenant with his head bowed low.
"Is she asleep already?"
"Been asleep since you left earlier my prince."
"Keep and eye on her lieutenant..."
"Yes sir!"
"...or she might slip from your grasp."
The young lieutenant looked up and gave the prince an odd look.
At this Prince Kaede chuckled, clearly amused. "Lt. Hiroaki, I wish you luck in winning my sister's heart."
Lt. Hiroaki blushed furiously as he stammered a "thank you."
"You're welcome lieutenant," replied a still chuckling Kaede as he walked away from his sister's tent. And since his tent was near his sister's, it didn't take long for him to reach it.
But, before he was able to enter his tent, something caught his eye. He reached out and snatched it out of the air. And as he looked at it, his face registered a look of surprise. "A Sakura blossom?" he wondered out loud as he and Shadow made their way into his tent.
"What is a Sakura blossom doing here in the middle of a forest?" he wondered as he sat down on the bed. Then, shaking these thoughts from his head, he placed the blossom carefully on the table beside his bed, as Shadow climbed on the bed after his master and curled up into a little fur ball to get some well deserved sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Prince Kaede woke up to the tender sniffing of Shadow on his right palm. Smiling, he reached out and stroked Shadow's head. "On time as always, aren't you Shadow?" After saying such, the young prince sat up on his bed, stretched his limbs and proceeded to get ready.
No one, except the troops assigned to guard the camp for the night and Lt. Hiroaki who was faithfully keeping guard over the princess, were awake yet. So Prince Kaede didn't even bother to disturb his siblings' or the servants' beauty sleeps.
Since he almost never takes his breakfast back home in the capital, the young prince didn't bother to take one out here in the forest.
He didn't wake a servant up to saddle his horse. He went into the stable and saddled his stallion himself.
"Come Shadow," he whispered to his loyal companion as he kicked his stallion to change its pace from a slow trot to a fast run out of the stable.
The agile black fox followed its master, running alongside the black horse Prince Kaede rode.
After thirty minutes of wandering into the forest, and fifteen minutes after the sun rose from the east, Kaede and Shadow finally slowed down. Prince Kaede let the majestic stallion take a drink in a river they found deep into the forest.
But unknown to the prince, 2 pairs of brown eyes were secretly watching him from a distance.
A girl with long red locks kept in an untidy braid and dressed in soiled clothes climbed down from a tree. She reached towards her shoulder and scratched the chin of her pet monkey.
"Come now Coco," she told the monkey, sighing as she did so. "He's not one of our people so we can't expect any help from him. We'll just have to wait until my uncle realizes that I'm gone." She sighed again and walked off, barely realizing that Coco was no longer on her shoulder.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"What's wrong Shadow?" Kaede asked as the fox snarled at something up in the trees. The stallion had just finished drinking from the river and Kaede noticed that Shadow was acting a tad bit differently.
He steered the stallion to face the place that Shadow was snarling at. He peered through the leaves and of the big tree and saw nothing. "Don't worry, there's nothing up there Shadow," he assured the fox.
The fox gave the tree a last glance and resumed his place beside his master's stallion.
Without any intention to hunt, the prince and his loyal companion explored deeper into the forest.
At first, Kaede's intention was to look for a solitary pace where he could spend some time with himself and Shadow, but now, he was also interested in looking for the tree where the Sakura blossom of last night came from.
But Kaede's train of thoughts was interrupted when he heard the rustling of leaves.
He looked up, but it was too late. All he saw was a brown fur ball hurtling towards him from the treetops, then he felt himself lose balance.
"No!" screamed a voice, a female voice...perhaps that of an angel. Then a sharp pain hit his head and then nothingness...blackness...
tbc
Author: Nanako
Genre:Romance, au
Pairing:RuHana, KoshSen, MakiJin, HanaFuji (Hanagata)
Rating:PG
Archive: 1. it's ok for me if you archive this fic to sdfic ML
2. This fic is not posted in any other archive
E-mail:ishpoof@i-manila.com.ph
Warning: the characters are extremely ooc, bad choice of words, cursing
Author's notes: Haruko bashing ^^. I couldn't find anyone else who would do anything to get Kaede's love.gomen. Oh and this chapter is longer than my usual.
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is Takehito Inoue's and will never be mine (sob)
CHAPTER 4
After a whole day of preparation after the emperor's blessings, the five royal siblings and their companions, journeyed out of the capital and headed towards the forests near the edge of the border where they were to hunt.
Gen. Shinichi and Gen. Toru, on their white steeds, led the hunting party. Before leaving the imperial capital, they were tasked by the emperor himself to safeguard all five of his children from the moment they step off the capital's soil till the time they returned home.
The troops they had brought along with them formed a defensive formation around the five royalties.
Princess Akira stayed directly behind the two generals, her long black hair- still kept loose-fell against the pure white of her stallion.
Beside her, on a dotted stallion, but no less as majestic, was the ever- faithful Lt. Hiroaki. Ever since the journey began, he never, even once, failed to lose his concentration to make sure that the princess that he loved would be safe the whole time he was by her side.
Behind them, rode the crown prince Kiminobu, Prince Hisashi, Prince Ryota and Prince Kaede. All four princes were on identical black stallions.
Among the five, Prince Kaede was the only one who was fond with animals. And the reason why he actually agreed to come along was because he wanted to escape from the bustling and noisy imperial capital. It was never his intention to even hurt a small animal, much more, to hunt.
Everyone in the hunting party had their steeds chosen for them. But the youngest prince chose his stallion for himself. While everyone else would choose a stallion for its beauty, grace and speed, Prince Kaede chose his just for the sole reason that it was his favorite stallion, for this stallion was taken care of by the prince ever since it was but a mere foal.
He loved the birds he saw up in the sky, he loved the small animals which scurried in the imperial gardens, and of course the stallions, mares and foals which were kept in the stables. But there was one animal which he kept dear to his heart, an animal which he loved the most - the fox.
When Prince Kaede was a mere five year old boy, Kiminobu, who was also a young boy at that time, found a lone black fox pup when he and his father traveled to another city. He had taken the black fox home and had given it to his baby brother as a present.
It was love at first sight and the little Kaede was overjoyed at the little black fur ball Kiminobu had brought home for him. Ever since that day, the young prince took care of the fox - which he named Shadow - and the fox never left his side.
So they practically grew up together and were very close, so close that Shadow, more often than not, protected Prince Kaede more diligently and profusely than any other person.
Prince Kaede had grown so fond of Shadow that the fox was always with the prince, wherever he went.
The whole trip to the forest took about 5 days of nonstop travel. Both Lady Kenji and Lady Souichirou insisted that they set camp each day as soon as night falls, since they feared the deterioration of the princess' and princes' health.
But the five were so hardheaded to go on with the trip that the two Ladies had no other choice but to comply.
That was why, within five days, they were able to reach their destination.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Gen. Shinichi sighed. He had just finished giving orders to his quite restless men and he had wished that the five royal siblings would just go to sleep.
He entered his tent and Lady Souichirou greeted him with a smile which never ceases to warm his heart. "You deserve some rest Shinichi, it has been a tiring trip. But..."
She approached him and held his hand in both of hers. "Come, their royal highnesses are waiting for us by the campfire."
Gen. Shinichi sighed again, the only sign he showed of weariness, as he allowed himself to be led by his wife to the campfire outside, where the crown prince Kiminobu wished everyone to spend some time to chat and perhaps have a light snack with his friends and family.
"Majesties," the couple greeted as the general bowed slightly and his wife curtsied, then they sat down beside Gen. Toru and Lady Kenji, just in front of the campfire. He looked around. Strange, only the crown prince, Prince Hisashi and Prince Ryota were there. Where were Princess Akira and Prince Kaede? Gen. Shinichi knew that the princess and the youngest prince loved these sorts of things the most out of the five, why then were they not here?
He looked at his wife first then at his two close friends and colleagues, and on their faces, he saw eyes shrouded in worry, probably the same expression could be found on his face this exact moment too, he believed.
Once they had settled down, Prince Kiminobu stood up, looked at the two generals and their wives, and said, "Dear generals and Ladies of my father's court, please forgive our insistence of not stopping in camps for the whole trip."
Then he sat down. Gen. Toru, after noticing that Gen. Shinichi was too tired to counter what the prince had said, took the responsibility upon himself. He stood up and addressed the crown prince, "Prince Kiminobu, the pleasure is ours to accompany you and make sure that you and your siblings are safe during the whole trip."
"But...," the prince started as his worried brown eyes glanced at the tired physique of Gen. Shinichi.
"You're tired, because of us," Prince Kaede finished for his brother as he and Shadow approached the group. "Akira's exhausted and she told me to inform you guys that she won't be coming over. Lt. Hiroaki is watching over her and I doubt anything foul will befall her as long as he is by her side."
He looked at the generals with warm blue eyes and said, "I know that the two of you are very tired. There is no reason not to voice it out to us. Remember, this is not our father's court, where you are obliged to keep quiet and await further commands. We aren't even in the capital, we are miles from it. All we ask from you is your loyalty to us and our dynasty, we aren't asking you to become robots or anything. Complain if there is something to complain about and scold us if we do something wrong. We do not bind you out here at all, rather, we give you full freedom to do what you think is right. Because you are our "guardians" in this trip, you have the power to rectify our wrongdoings."
"Kaede..."
Prince Kaede did not mind his brothers' confused gazes and Prince Kiminobu's awed one. He just looked at the shocked faces of the generals as ell s their wives, awaiting what they had to say.
"I...I ...,"stammered Gen. Toru. He looked at the prince and Kaede nodded for him to continue. The nervous general sighed, shook his head and said, "You HAVE grown up my prince. For you to treat us as such is such a great honor."
"We are friends Gen. Toru," said Prince Kaede simply, as if that explained everything.
Prince Kiminobu looked up and smiled at his youngest brother. "You surprise me Kaede. For you to say words which even I have no courage to say is so...so...fantastic!"
Prince Kaede returned his smile and said, "Courage is what it takes to be a good leader big brother, our father used to say that. And, on my opinion, I think you already possess enough of it to become the most worthy among us to become the heir to the throne." He then looked at the others and bowed, "Forgive me, but I will excuse myself from this gathering at this moment. For tomorrow I will leave the encampment at an early hour." And without another word, Prince Kaede left with Shadow.
"I believe he plans to leave alone again tomorrow," said Prince Hisashi, shaking his head.
"He won't be alone Hisashi,' corrected the crown prince.
"Yeah," Prince Ryota agreed. "Shadow is enough of a bodyguard for Kaede."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Prince Kaede passed by Princess Akira's tent before he proceeded to his own. As he had expected, Lt. Hiroaki was standing guard outside her tent.
"Majesty!" greeted the startled lieutenant as Prince Kaede and Shadow strode towards the tent.
"Shhhh," said the price as held his right index finger to his lips and pointed towards his sister's tent. "You might disturb her."
"I'm sorry majesty," apologized the lieutenant with his head bowed low.
"Is she asleep already?"
"Been asleep since you left earlier my prince."
"Keep and eye on her lieutenant..."
"Yes sir!"
"...or she might slip from your grasp."
The young lieutenant looked up and gave the prince an odd look.
At this Prince Kaede chuckled, clearly amused. "Lt. Hiroaki, I wish you luck in winning my sister's heart."
Lt. Hiroaki blushed furiously as he stammered a "thank you."
"You're welcome lieutenant," replied a still chuckling Kaede as he walked away from his sister's tent. And since his tent was near his sister's, it didn't take long for him to reach it.
But, before he was able to enter his tent, something caught his eye. He reached out and snatched it out of the air. And as he looked at it, his face registered a look of surprise. "A Sakura blossom?" he wondered out loud as he and Shadow made their way into his tent.
"What is a Sakura blossom doing here in the middle of a forest?" he wondered as he sat down on the bed. Then, shaking these thoughts from his head, he placed the blossom carefully on the table beside his bed, as Shadow climbed on the bed after his master and curled up into a little fur ball to get some well deserved sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Prince Kaede woke up to the tender sniffing of Shadow on his right palm. Smiling, he reached out and stroked Shadow's head. "On time as always, aren't you Shadow?" After saying such, the young prince sat up on his bed, stretched his limbs and proceeded to get ready.
No one, except the troops assigned to guard the camp for the night and Lt. Hiroaki who was faithfully keeping guard over the princess, were awake yet. So Prince Kaede didn't even bother to disturb his siblings' or the servants' beauty sleeps.
Since he almost never takes his breakfast back home in the capital, the young prince didn't bother to take one out here in the forest.
He didn't wake a servant up to saddle his horse. He went into the stable and saddled his stallion himself.
"Come Shadow," he whispered to his loyal companion as he kicked his stallion to change its pace from a slow trot to a fast run out of the stable.
The agile black fox followed its master, running alongside the black horse Prince Kaede rode.
After thirty minutes of wandering into the forest, and fifteen minutes after the sun rose from the east, Kaede and Shadow finally slowed down. Prince Kaede let the majestic stallion take a drink in a river they found deep into the forest.
But unknown to the prince, 2 pairs of brown eyes were secretly watching him from a distance.
A girl with long red locks kept in an untidy braid and dressed in soiled clothes climbed down from a tree. She reached towards her shoulder and scratched the chin of her pet monkey.
"Come now Coco," she told the monkey, sighing as she did so. "He's not one of our people so we can't expect any help from him. We'll just have to wait until my uncle realizes that I'm gone." She sighed again and walked off, barely realizing that Coco was no longer on her shoulder.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"What's wrong Shadow?" Kaede asked as the fox snarled at something up in the trees. The stallion had just finished drinking from the river and Kaede noticed that Shadow was acting a tad bit differently.
He steered the stallion to face the place that Shadow was snarling at. He peered through the leaves and of the big tree and saw nothing. "Don't worry, there's nothing up there Shadow," he assured the fox.
The fox gave the tree a last glance and resumed his place beside his master's stallion.
Without any intention to hunt, the prince and his loyal companion explored deeper into the forest.
At first, Kaede's intention was to look for a solitary pace where he could spend some time with himself and Shadow, but now, he was also interested in looking for the tree where the Sakura blossom of last night came from.
But Kaede's train of thoughts was interrupted when he heard the rustling of leaves.
He looked up, but it was too late. All he saw was a brown fur ball hurtling towards him from the treetops, then he felt himself lose balance.
"No!" screamed a voice, a female voice...perhaps that of an angel. Then a sharp pain hit his head and then nothingness...blackness...
tbc