Change of Hearts
By Cheeky
Chapter Two
"You really weren't kidding when you said Prince Kaede was in a bad mood," commented Shinichi with a wry grin as he gratefully accepted a cup of hot steaming chocolate drink from the elf leader.
Watching Hisashi tenderly rubbing against his bruised jaw, Kenji suddenly slapped his knee as he laughed aloud, "Weaker than a girl, he says… Who's in great pain now, I wonder?"
Akira shot the elf leader a dark look before turning his attention towards the human leader, "I apologise for Kaede's behaviour. He isn't really as heartless as he sounded moments ago… The truth is, Kaede worships the ground Crown Prince Kiminobu walks on, but since our cousin ran away, Kaede has been worrying himself sick… He would halt the search only when the horses are spewing foam, or when the elves are too tired to continue. In fact, we have been walking continuously for close to seventeen hours when you stumbled onto our camp."
Hikoichi who was put in charge of nursing the fire suddenly sighed as he muttered sadly under his breath, "If what Prince Kaede said is true, then we're never going to find Lady Ayako…"
"Actually, I have a very strong feeling that our two runaways are indeed together… I mean, when you do think about it, it's too much of a coincidence that they both ran away within days of each other…" remarked Hisashi with a thoughtful look on his face.
Akira nodded slowly, "You may have a point there, Lord Hisashi… As far as the House of Hanagata is concerned, Crown Prince Kiminobu is the only elf known to have run away… So unless Lady Ayako escaped with an elf from another House, chances are she is indeed with Crown Prince Kiminobu…"
"But can we really assume that they are together? What if we're wrong?" sniffed Hikoichi as he came close to tears.
Kenji suddenly exclaimed as he snapped his fingers, "Wait a minute… you can speak to horses, right? Why don't you trying asking them for a description of the elf Lady Ayako was last seen with?"
Hikoichi wailed loudly, "They only told me he was covered in green from head to toe, and that he smelled like an elf…"
Akira tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Hmm… this may be a long shot in the dark… but did the horses happen to notice a ring on the elf's middle finger? The Crown Prince of every House wears a ring with a specially designed stone that give details of which House he is from… If we know the design, then we would know for certain whether Lady Ayako's escape partner is Crown Prince Kiminobu or not…"
The young stable master brightened considerably as he made to stand up, "I'll do that right away…"
Kenji however, pulled the boy back to the ground as he reminded, "The horses are sleeping… you can ask them when day breaks…"
"Speaking of which, there's only a couple of hours more before the sun rises. Since it's going to be another long day tomorrow, I suggest we all catch some sleep," commented Akira as he gave a loud yawn.
Kenji gestured several feet away, "We have spare tents if you're interested…"
Hisashi hurriedly shook his head, "Thank you for the offer, but we prefer to sleep outside…"
The elf Prince's cousin grinned, "Same here, though personally I prefer sleeping high up in the trees… Well, good night then."
"Good night," answered Hisashi as he settled himself comfortably on the ground.
He had barely closed his eyes when Hikoichi's loud yell woke him up. Groggily straightening to an upright position, Hisashi muttered sleepily, "What is it Hikoichi?"
"My lord, Lady Ayako is indeed with Crown Prince Kiminobu!"
That woke the young man up as he got to his feet, "Are you certain?"
His stable master nodded his head rigorously, "Yes, Akira has verified that the ring the horses saw is indeed Crown Prince Kiminobu's."
"That is good news… so what next?"
"A wash and then breakfast, m'lord… the elves have prepared a meal in accordance to our taste…"
Hisashi turned towards his steward with a smile, "So I'm the last one up?"
"Actually, Prince Kaede is still asleep… or more specifically, since we now know the identity of the human girl Prince Kaede is with, Akira is letting the Prince sleep in…" answered Kenji as he approached the three humans.
Hisashi raised an eyebrow as he inquired, "I take it your Prince isn't going to be too pleased with Akira's decision…"
Kenji chuckled evilly, "And it appears that you know our Prince's habits only too well…"
The young man flushed crimson as he hastily turned back towards his steward, "Er, I think I'll go wash up now…"
Shinichi's grin matched the elf leader as he led the way towards a nearby stream.
"Good morning Lord Hisashi… slept well?" inquired Akira with a smile as the young man approached his side.
"Yes, thank you for your concern… and yourself?" responded Hisashi as he sat next to the elf.
Akira smiled happily, "I'm well rested… I assumed Hikoichi has told you about our find?"
"Yes. So what do you plan to do next?"
Akira stretched his arms high up into the air as he answered, "Well, first thing first, we have to wait for Kaede to wake up. With a human girl in tow, and a lady from the House of Mitsui at that, there's only one place Crown Prince Kiminobu can go…"
"And where's that?" inquired Hisashi with interest.
But before the elf could reply, a voice questioned sharply from behind both speakers, "Why is the human still here?"
Akira turned his head as he remarked cheerfully, "Ah, you're awake, cousin dear… Did you sleep well?"
The elf Prince scowled, "Don't make me ask twice…"
Hisashi stood up as he stared evenly into Kaede's azure orbs, "Your brother is with my sister, so like it or not, we're going to have to travel together to retrieve the two runaways…"
To the young man's surprise, Kaede suddenly frowned as he commented with mocking concern, "Oh my, does your bruise still hurt, Lord Hisashi? I must say it has turned a rather nice shade of purple…"
"Are you always this rude and obnoxious in the morning?" came the scathing response.
The elf Prince answered with a hint of a smile, "Oh no… as Akira will tell you, I'm usually very polite and well-mannered. But since I'm conversing with rude and obnoxious humans, I may as well return the favour…"
Hisashi gave a slight bow as he remarked with traces of scorn, "How painful it must be for you to have to lowered yourself to such unmoral standards, Prince Kaede… Please, do accept my sincerest apologies, for I merely reacted on the assumption that being ill-mannered is second-nature to you…"
"I do hate getting involved in lovers' quarrel of any kind, but if we're hoping to catch up with Crown Prince Kiminobu and Lady Ayako, then we had better start for Lord Hanamichi's manor…" pointed out Akira in a much too cheerful voice.
Kaede glared at his cousin as he remarked coolly, "You're enjoying yourself, aren't you Akira?"
The elf nodded shamelessly, "Oh yes, very much indeed, dearest cousin…"
"Well, stop it…"
"I might when you decide to cooperate with Lord Hisashi," answered Akira without humour.
The elf Prince snorted, "And should I refuse?"
His cousin shrugged, seemingly unconcerned as he answered, "Then you would be at a disadvantage… You know very well that Lord Hanamichi would never agree to anything you say, and that your relationship is soured over the Princess Haruko incident… But if Lord Hisashi is willing to speak on our behalf, then we might have a greater chance of ensuring Crown Prince Kiminobu's return…"
In a softer voice, Akira then added, "Kaede, not all humans carry ill will towards you…"
Several minutes of silence later, Kaede finally looked towards the son of Anzai as he stated evenly, "I don't want you to get the wrong impression that I desperately need your assistance… I'm agreeing to Akira's condition only because I've been ordered by father to bring back brother no matter what… And since your presence will help me do just that, I am thus willing to cultivate a cordial relationship with you…"
But instead of answering the elf Prince, Mitsui turned his gaze towards Akira as he remarked quietly, "I think I'm beginning to understand why you put up with his foul temperament…"
The elf Prince's cousin responded with a tired smile, "As you've just experienced yourself, Kaede does try really hard to please… Personally, I find the trait quite worrisome given that he's willing to sacrifice his own happiness to do just that…"
"Hmm… is that the result of an unhappy childhood or sibling rivalry?"
The older elf looked sympathetically at his wide-eyed cousin as he disagreed with the human's presumption, "Close, but not quite near enough. The truth is, King Toru wanted a daughter as having two sons in the royal family usually leads to a wrestle of the crown and power…"
"Akira, I don't see the purpose in sharing my private affairs with the human…" growled out the elf Prince with deep resentment, though his eyes betrayed his obvious disquiet and discomfort.
"Since we're going to travel together for the next seven days, I feel it's best for Lord Hisashi to understand you better…"
Kaede had a strong feeling he was being deliberately ignored. And even if he offered further protest, his cousin seemed unlikely to heed his command. So throwing up both hands in frustration, Kaede muttered scathingly under his breath, "I don't need anyone's understanding… least of all the consideration of a human…"
"Speaking of which… why do you hate humans so much?" questioned Hisashi with interest.
The elf Prince snapped back rudely, "I've already told you, it's because humans are so full of themselves…"
"Actually, the reason is because Kaede was brought up by human nurses," countered Akira at the side.
Ignoring the enraged glare aimed in his direction, Akira continued with a mirthless chuckle, "A stupid adviser of King Toru argued that since Kaede would never ascend to the throne, there was no need to teach Kaede the way of the elves. Thus, he was put under the care of humans, and discouraged from interacting with the rest of his kin… The nurses who took care of him were rather unkind, so it's only inevitable that Kaede would be less than fond of humans…"
"What next? You're going to tell Hisashi how I misbehaved so as to discourage the nurses from coming back?"
"Actually I…" started Akira but paused in mid-sentence when his cousin abruptly turned before stomping off in the opposite direction.
Staring at the retreating back, Hisashi spoke aloud his thoughts, "I'm assuming Kaede meant that to be a rhetorical question?"
Giving his head a rueful shake, the elf offered a loud sigh of dejection, and I thought he was being serious… really, Kaede is becoming more and more unpredictable with each passing day…"
Hisashi suddenly grinned, "Enough about the human nurses… if I listen any more, I might actually start to feel sorry for Kaede, and that would damaged my reputation tremendously… How about sharing with me how you came to be at the elf Prince's beck and call instead?"
Akira laughed easily before explaining, "My mother is King Toru's sister, so we're first cousins by blood… When I was 12-years-old, my father died due to an incurable disease, so mother and I were invited to live with uncle and aunt. Mother became aunt's companion, while I was put under the care of Kenji's father, Fujima, who was the previous elf leader. To cut a long story short, when Kaede's fourteenth nurse resigned in tears, I was brought in as a temporary playmate. Since I was the only person who could tolerate the then 8-year-old Prince, I was thus appointed as Kaede's guardian…"
"And you spoilt him rotten, didn't you?"
Akira merely stared at the direction his cousin had taken as he muttered softly under his breath, "I am merely trying to fill in as the older brother Kaede never had the chance of knowing…"
Kenji spread the faded map over a large flat boulder as he pointed at an area in the far north-east, "That is where Lord Hanamichi lives. At the speed we're travelling at, it shouldn't take us more than a week to reach the clearing."
Shinichi looked questioning around the group, "Who is this Lord Hanamichi anyway?"
The elf Prince answered with traces of disgust, "He's an insufferable redhead… a creature of the lowest form…"
"What Kaede means is, Lord Hanamichi is a human," came Akira's laughing reply.
Kenji added an explanation, "Lord Hanamichi is smitten with Princess Haruko, a distant cousin of Prince Kaede…"
"Isn't she the elf princess Crown Prince Kiminobu is supposed to marry?" asked Hisashi in surprise.
Akira nodded before answering, "You see, during one of his bi-monthly visit to the House of Akagi, Lord Hanamichi's marriage proposal happened to arrive. As you already know, Kaede doesn't like humans very much, and he has simply no patience for loudmouthed and noisy men. Without realising they were being watched by the royal siblings, Kaede and Lord Hanamichi shared a rather loud quarrel, followed by a bloody and unnecessary fight. Consequently, because of this incident King Takenori has refused to allow his sister to marry Lord Hanamichi on the grounds that the lord is a violent and abusive man."
When the elf prince's cousin paused, Kenji took up the rest of the thread, "Naturally, Lord Hanamichi blamed Prince Kaede for inciting the argument, and thus foiling his marriage to the elf princess… Their relationship however, turned extremely bitter when the engagement between Crown Prince Kiminobu and Princess Haruko was announced only seven weeks later. The lord had wrongly assumed that Kaede was behind his brother's engagement, but in actual fact, it was King Toru who proposed the wedding."
"I don't get it… if Crown Prince Kiminobu was supposed to marry Princess Haruko, then why would Lord Hanamichi be willing to give shelter to the Crown Prince?" inquired Shinichi as his brow furrowed with deep concentration.
"You forget, Crown Prince Kiminobu not only ran away from his own pre-nuptial ceremony, he is also travelling with Lady Ayako…" reminded Akira.
Kaede snorted, "That single-cell creature probably thinks my brother has eloped with Lady Ayako…"
"In other words, Lord Hanamichi is free to marry Princess Haruko… provided he can convince King Takenori to give his blessing. If Crown Prince Kiminobu were to speak on the lord's behalf, then the odds of King Takenori agreeing to the marriage is quite high, given that those from the House of Hanagata are held in utmost regard…" added Kenji as he folded his map.
Hikoichi complained half-heartedly as he rubbed his temples, "This is all so very confusing…"
The lord's steward lightly rapped the boy at the back of his head as he remarked with a laugh, "That's because you're still a child…"
"Hmph, I don't blame Hikoichi for being befuddled… I'm feeling a little lost myself…" commented Hisashi with a wry grin.
And then young man added seriously as he held Akira's eyes, "Assuming you're right about their whereabouts, how confident are you that the two runaways are willing to return with us? And even if they are willing, from what I've heard, there's no guarantee that Lord Hanamichi will let them go so easily…"
But it was the elf Prince who supplied an answer as he stated without emotion, "It doesn't matter whether brother's willing or not, my only task is to bring him back safe and sound… But if the vulgar redhead chooses to stand in my way, then I won't hesitate to take his life…"
"We would have a war on our hands should that ever happen…" pointed out Kenji with an unhappy frown.
Shinichi offered in the same undertone, "I feel your pain… Lord Ryota from the House of Miyagi has already threatened war on our House should Lady Ayako not return to complete her end of the wedding union…"
"How troublesome a change of heart is…" remarked Kaede with a scowl of annoyance.
Akira disagreed as he gave a slight shake of the head, "There's where you're wrong, Kaede… the problem started with all the arranged marriages… If elves and humans were allowed to choose who they wish to marry, and indeed, marry the one of whom they had given their heart to, then we wouldn't have two runaways to deal with."
t.b.c
A/N: So much in RL that I was on the verge of breaking down. But this fic will be completed. Please visit my profile for some additional information. And do continue to R&R, cause your views really keep me motivated. /Hugs/
Feedback:
golden-flame4: Kogure and Ayako.. heheh.. yeah, right.. /winks/
Mata & ForsakenOn3: Votes duly noted.. ;;;
Me mei mei: /breathtaking hugs/ Hehehe.. ;;;;;;
Night Strider: Nah.. won't be crossing over the LOTR, just 'elvenising' some bishonens.. hehehe.. a challenge from MicchiKo, moderator of the MitRu ML. ;;;
hagane: you write lots of MitRu/RuMit too yeah? /waves MitRu/RuMit banner/