A/N: This was meant to be a oneshot, because, well, the rest is pretty much obvious - but I synced my mail and found that someone wants to read the next part! So I typed this. Hopefully it's not too bad.
The boy was given to the cook and nurses - the only females taken along on the planned raid - to be taken care of on the way back to Kirisaki Daiichi. Thus, King Hanamiya did not see the babe until he had comfortably settled back into his castle and had nothing to do.
Like now.
King Hanamiya had nothing to do, he had finished taking care of people he did not want around, ordering others to do want needed be done and so on. King work, to put it shortly. Usually when Hanamiya had nothing to do, he either entertained himself or started thinking up strategies and ideas to better his Kingdom whilst keeping it the same. But he, unfortunately, did not feel like doing any of that and had nothing else to do.
So he sent for the Seirin prince to be brought before him. He wanted to see if his investment was going well.
The head nurse brought him to him, still clad in his clothes from Seirin but wearing a new woollen cap on his head - hiding the majority of his pretty bloodred and candy hair. The boy, playing with the greying curls peeking out of her nurse's cap, turned his head to him curiously, stared for a moment, and smiled secretly. Hanamiya gestured at her to bring him closer, waiting impatiently as she did.
When they were close enough, he turned to his attendant and said, 'See to it that he is well taken care of. I want a proper nurse to be prepared, and clothes - any more of that Seirin made tunic and I might have someone put to death - and food. Feed him accordingly and clothe him appropriately. He is to be brought to see me once every month until he can run steadily and form sensible words - then he may see me once a week.'
His attendant nodded. 'Yes, Your Majesty.'
'And,' he continued, stopping his attendant's movements. Hanamiya hesitated, thinking that maybe it was not worth it (the boy was practically Kiyoshi's!), but the thought of Kiyoshi dying by his nephew's hand set his decision in stone.
Hanamiya turned to face all court. 'He is to be known as Hanamiya Taiga from this day forth.'
The attendant wanted to hesitate, to perhaps ask why, but doing so was just begging for an unpleasant torture sentence. He bowed with a nod. 'Of course, Your Majesty.'
No one else said anything, all of them simply beginning to whisper speculations to each other.
'Why is that, Mako?' the nurse demanded, her eyes set on him firmly. She ignored the shocked gasps everyone else gave. 'As far as I know, you do not have any sorts of paternal instincts, taking in a war orphan and giving him your name? Impossible. You are a loveless creature.'
Had it been anyone else, Hanamiya would have cut their head off seconds ago, without any hesitation. Had it been anyone else. But, unfortunately, it was her, the head nurse, known to him as Hana-sensei and Matron to everyone else. So he had to answer, instead of having her put to death. He owed her - at most, that much.
Hanamiya tilted his head, placing a jeweled hand across his breast and lacing his voice with pain. 'Loveless? How cruel of you,' he said. 'How very unjust of you, female creature, to call me such when I merely wished to offer this poor homeless child a home and make him an orphan no longer. Oh, dear me.'
Her gaze was flat. 'Tell me the truth, Mako.'
Hanamiya grinned, giving up the act. 'Nothing gets past you,' he said. One of the several reasons she was the only female creature he tolerated without effort. 'I did not feel any sorts of sympathy for the child.'
'Obviously.'
The king stood up, a cruel smile tugging at his lips. 'The baby you hold in your grasp is the Seirin Prince Kagami Taiga,' he said.
'So you wish to torture the boy in place of his missing uncle?' she scoffed. Not that she cared, she had just about raised Hanamiya - in Kirisaki - one did not survive here unless one had a heart of stone and a cruel mind.
'No,' he denied, surprising everyone. 'That is simple and expectedly predictable. I will claim the boy as mine, first, something Kiyoshi will regret. I will raise him in Kirisaki, second, as one of mine, something Kiyoshi will eternally regret -- as I plan on making him a fine Kirisaki man. I will have the boy kill his uncle, third. How do you think he would feel? His little angel boy, a cold murderer, a cruel tyrant, loyal to only I, and wishing to kill him, his own dear, dear uncle?'
Hanamiya chuckled sadistically. 'His dear sister's baby, the sweet angel everyone compliments and sings of after having met him..' he laughed, his eyes glinting. 'Oh, Kiyoshi, you are going to regret leaving Prince Kagami behind.'
'I see,' she said. 'That is a fine plan.'
The Matron was, indeed, very proud of the man little Makoto had turned out to be and expected no less of a boy she had raised to be a King of Kirisaki. He had not lost his passion yet, and that was good - one of the last things a mother (or a mother of sorts) wanted to see was her child lose passion. Because passion was a food to the soul, without it, the soul was quarter-dead.
Hanamiya watched as Hana-sensei left with a mere nod to him. Even when he had made king, she did not change her attitude towards him. One of the extremely few, few things he treasured.
Turning his head away, Hanamiya contemplated getting new hunting dogs.
.o.o.o.
Three Years Later
'Father!'
Hanamiya looked up at the sound of Taiga's voice, the boy had somehow found a way to get onto the throne level. Good. Hanamiya was getting tired of hearing Haizaki talking - no matter that he was the most important nobleman in the whole land. He was most probably just talking of the number of foreign children his boy had bullied.
Hanamiya raised his hand, letting it fall just in time to land on Taiga's shoulder the moment he stopped by his side. 'What is it, boy?'
Taiga peered up at him, his eyes shining with awe, admiration and love. Pure, unwavering love. King Hanamiya hated it, it was repulsive, but he had to bear with it - if anything, it meant his investment was a success.
'I passed the trials Trainer made for me the day before the yesterday!' he said.
His huge, naive eyes told Hanamiya tales of the approval the boy was looking for. Hanamiya nooded absently, his eyes going down to his assistant - having gotten an idea. 'Have Kiyoshi's wife brought to me from her cell,' he ordered.
Having felt Kagami droop beneath his hand, the King turned to the boy. 'Tell me, Taiga, how does one use a dagger? I want to know if you have been paying mind during your lessons.'
Taiga brightened up, immediately beginning a long speech of words to tell the king. Hanamiya did not even listen to him, he was waiting for something else.
Through the open doors, some time later, came Riko, shackled appropriately and glaring hatefully at everything around her. Hanamiya patted the boy's head to silence him.
'Oh, Riko,' he greeted. 'It is so good to see you.'
She lifted her glare up towards his throne, trembling with suppressed fury, and froze. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped with a short gasp. She stared up, disbelieving, at the crimson-haired boy standing by her enemy's side, his tiny hands clutching Hanamiya's hand to his cheek lovingly. Kiyoshi Aida Riko could not believe her eyes.
'K - Kagami?' she called. Because it could not be anyone else, she would recognize the baby she had claimed as her own, all those years ago. Her baby boy. One of the people that kept her going, one of the thoughts that helped her keep up her strength.
The boy glanced down at her curiously, his eyebrows (Riko could not tell you how much Teppei loved those incredible things) falling down in thought. 'Father? Who is she?'
Riko's stomach dropped. Father? Was he - was he addressing Hanamiya? That was when she noticed the clothing - Kirisaki royal clothing, and the loose, silver circlet with a single green gem he was supposed to grow into - set around his neck like a collar, with gold engravings of the heir set in. And, most importantly, the honey sweet gaze he had for the king.
Hanamiya smirked down at her, making a hot anger and even more anger boil in her blood.
The king reached out and stroked Kagami's cheek with false affection, much to the boy's apparent joy. 'She is...' he began, an evil glint in his eyes. 'A new maidservant, Taiga, my boy.'
Riko seethed with fury, watching as Kagami, her little angel Kagami, leaned into his hand and hummed, almost like a purring cat.
'Why? You have many, no?' he inquired curiously. 'Did one disobey you, father? Were they taken care of? Or sent on a vacation?'
Hanamiya smirked, noticing Aida's horror. 'No, my boy, this one is to be your maidservant, your very own,' he said, addressing both the boy and the captured queen. 'She will wait on you hand and foot, Taiga, do everything you demand. Is that not great?'
Taiga scrunched his nose up slightly, but nodded.
'And should I hear of the slightest disobedience,' he continued, his fingers tilting Taiga's chin up. 'Anything, be it actions or knowledge, heads shall roll.'
He set his gaze on Riko, the hand petting Kagami telling her just whose head he was talking about. It would be sugar to him, watching as the former queen and battle maiden waited on a boy less than half her size, a boy she loved as her own son. Oh, Hanamiya could imagine it, the anger she would feel whenever Taiga addressed him as father, the pain she would conceal when Taiga addressed her as nothing more than the random servant.
Hanamiya could imagine it.
Riko was not stupid, she curtseyed and contained her rage. Hanamiya was truly a cruel bastard, what her dear Kiyoshi saw in him - she would never know. Forcing her to do this, knowing she could never be close to Kagami, and making sure she could never tell the boy the truth. Because she had no doubt that Hanamiya would have no trouble cutting the boy's head off.
.o.o.o.
Taiga was thrown into The Pit for the first time when he was twelve.
Hanamiya had come across Aida Riko training the boy, after hours, and it had lit a green, hot rage in him. Taiga was already provided with an instructor who would beat survival into him, he did not need anything from Seirin. He did not.
Hanamiya had been willing to let the boy go after an hour or two of spanking. (Why the Heir to Kirisaki was only allowed to be set straight by the King was a fact that had annoyed him.) Until Taiga confessed that he had made her teach him after finding out that she was a battle maiden. Hanamiya hadn't liked the fact that he could tell that the boy was lying to him - such a terrible liar he was - to hide the full truth.
Hanamiya had contemplated adding in a whip, or two. Then Taiga added that it had been going on for years and that, really, it all began when she remarked that he fought like a mindless dog.
That had caused something in him to burn. He did not like it.
Hanamiya played it off as anger - and not betrayal, at his actions and he was thrown into the Pit as punishment. He ignored the boy's eyes and expression, instead, setting his eyes on Riko.
She looked stricken, clad in her ragged maidservant uniform and clutching at her flat chest with horror. Hanamiya smirked at her, letting her know that this was all her fault. She had caused the death of the prince.
'You get to watch him die,' he said. 'Is that not great? Know this, you bitch, you have no rights trying to get closer to him - he is no longer yours, everything in Seirin was mine to do with as I pleased. Including Taiga.'
The Pit dogs looked thrilled, when they saw Taiga being shoved into the arena, drool just about falling from their lips at the thought of slaughtering Hanamiya's brat.
Hanamiya almost wanted to have him pulled out. Almost.
He was not expecting the boy to cone out victorious. Because that was what he did. He killed everyone in his way, and emerged victorious, piling the bodies (as was tradition) up and stepping out of the Pit, his round chubby face staring up at the King of Kirisaki, searching for recognition. And Hanamiya would deny to this day that his chest had inflated with pride. (And a fleeting thought that the boy was not supposed to be doing anything so gruesome. It was ignored - especially after remembering that it was Riko (tsk) who had polished the skill.)
Taiga frequented the Pit at least once a year, Hanamiya liked seeing him cut through the other dogs with a frightening savagery - a precise and lethal savagery. Riko's expression made it even more worthwhile, it reminded her how worse things could get for the boy.
The annual event (as it was now an official thing) drew the largest of crowds to the Pit of Fun - the stadium was named after he had it built.
.o.o.o.
Then came the letter from Imayoshi.
Taiga was sent, of course, and Hanamiya was finally glad to find a use for the useless prince. He packed his weapons and left for the Kingdom of Touou, without questioning his king/father. Doing so was always a golden ticket to a severe punishment session.
When, for the ninth time that day, Hanamiya looked at the doors impatiently and finally realized that he was waiting for Taiga to burst through them and run to his side, Riko trailing behind at a respectable distance with that unpleased tilt to her eyes - the king scowled. He had gotten so used to the boy's company he was now expecting it.
Hanamiya glanced around the room. He had even gotten the boy his own throne - only because he had ranted for days about how he was too old to sit at his feet or stand by his side and Hanamiya had tired of listening to him. A second throne in the notorious single-throne Royal Castle of Kirisaki Daiichi.
Then Hanamiya found himself reminiscing.
Taiga, as a baby was very gentle and quiet - almost sombre - unless he was laughing or smiling. As a child he was extremely sweet and just about worshipped him. As a boy he became more silent, but was noisy when he spoke and was developing an admirable temper that, though rare, was intense. As a lad, he only became more stronger and stronger. His talent and blazing will was nothing like he had ever seen before.
Hanamiya was sure the boy would not let him down.
This mission in Touou was going to be vital to whether he was really a wise investment - not to mention the benefit it would grant Kirisaki Daiichi.
But he knew Taiga would not let him down - the boy had never done so. He was not going to start any time soon.
.o.o.o.
.o.o.o.
Taiga was thrown into The Pit for the first time when he was twelve.
Hanamiya had come across Aida Riko training the boy, after hours, and it had lit a green, hot rage in him. Taiga was already provided with an instructor who would beat survival into him, he did not need anything from Seirin. He did not.
Hanamiya had been willing to let the boy go after an hour or two of spanking. (Why the Heir to Kirisaki was only allowed to be set straight by the King was a fact that had annoyed him.) Until Taiga confessed that he had made her teach him after finding out that she was a battle maiden. Hanamiya hadn't liked the fact that he could tell that the boy was lying to him - such a terrible liar he was - to hide the full truth.
Hanamiya had contemplated adding in a whip, or two. Then Taiga added that it had been going on for years and that, really, it all began when she remarked that he fought like a mindless dog.
That had caused something in him to burn. He did not like it.
Hanamiya played it off as anger - and not betrayal, at his actions and he was thrown into the Pit as punishment. He ignored the boy's eyes and expression, instead, setting his eyes on Riko.
She looked stricken, clad in her ragged maidservant uniform and clutching at her flat chest with horror. Hanamiya smirked at her, letting her know that this was all her fault. She had caused the death of the prince.
'You get to watch him die,' he said. 'Is that not great? Know this, you bitch, you have no rights trying to get closer to him - he is no longer yours, everything in Seirin was mine to do with as I pleased. Including Taiga.'
The Pit dogs looked thrilled, when they saw Taiga being shoved into the arena, drool just about falling from their lips at the thought of slaughtering Hanamiya's brat.
Hanamiya almost wanted to have him pulled out. Almost.
He was not expecting the boy to cone out victorious. Because that was what he did. He killed everyone in his way, and emerged victorious, piling the bodies (as was tradition) up and stepping out of the Pit, his round chubby face staring up at the King of Kirisaki, searching for recognition. And Hanamiya would deny to this day that his chest had inflated with pride. (And a fleeting thought that the boy was not supposed to be doing anything so gruesome. It was ignored - especially after remembering that it was Riko (tsk) who had polished the skill.)
Taiga frequented the Pit at least once a year, Hanamiya liked seeing him cut through the other dogs with a frightening savagery - a precise and lethal savagery. Riko's expression made it even more worthwhile, it reminded her how worse things could get for the boy.
The annual event (as it was now an official thing) drew the largest of crowds to the Pit of Fun - the stadium was named after he had it built.
.o.o.o.
Then came the letter from Imayoshi.
Taiga was sent, of course, and Hanamiya was finally glad to find a use for the useless prince. He packed his weapons and left for the Kingdom of Touou, without questioning his king/father. Doing so was always a golden ticket to a severe punishment session.
When, for the ninth time that day, Hanamiya looked at the doors impatiently and finally realized that he was waiting for Taiga to burst through them and run to his side, Riko trailing behind at a respectable distance with that unpleased tilt to her eyes - the king scowled. He had gotten so used to the boy's company he was now expecting it.
Hanamiya glanced around the room. He had even gotten the boy his own throne - only because he had ranted for days about how he was too old to sit at his feet or stand by his side and Hanamiya had tired of listening to him. A second throne in the notorious single-throne Royal Castle of Kirisaki Daiichi.
Then Hanamiya found himself reminiscing.
Taiga, as a baby was very gentle and quiet - almost sombre - unless he was laughing or smiling. As a child he was extremely sweet and just about worshipped him. As a boy he became more silent, but was noisy when he spoke and was developing an admirable temper that, though rare, was intense. As a lad, he only became more stronger and stronger. His talent and blazing will was nothing like he had ever seen before.
Hanamiya was sure the boy would not let him down.
This mission in Touou was going to be vital to whether he was really a wise investment - not to mention the benefit it would grant Kirisaki Daiichi.
But he knew Taiga would not let him down - the boy had never done so. He was not going to start any time soon.
.o.o.o.
AN: Too bad Hanamiya forgot just why he sent Taiga - concentrating too much on besting Imayoshi like that.
The story will really start next chapter. if I get round to typing it