Kiku woke up in Arthur's arms. Arthur had kept him company through the night as Kiku cried himself to sleep.
"Good morning." Arthur said softly. He was still a moment before braving another kiss- a gentle touch to Kiku's forehead.
"Morning..." Kiku whispered back, climbing out of bed. Arthur sat up with Kiku, then slipped away from him so he could exit the room. Once he was gone, Kiku picked out a new kimono. It was white, with cherry blossom petals falling across it.
Once dressed, Kiku walked out and reentered Arthur's arms. "I don't want to eat this morning," Kiku said, "I just want to go to the garden."
"Alright." Arthur agreed without complaint.
"This will be our last day together... Tomorrow my father will return..."
Arthur was quiet a moment before saying, "Just remember that I love you... No matter what..." He kissed Kiku softly.
"What if... We eloped?" Kiku said suddenly, holding Arthur at arm's length to look in his eyes, "We could run away, move to a different country."
"No," Arthur frowned, "You can't leave your people like that... We could cause problems for our countries..."
"But my father... He knows I love you and he still..."
"I don't know." Arthur whispered, "Your place is here, as princess... Mine is at England as a soldier."
"But if I married your prince, we'd always be beside each other... But not together. It would be torture!"
"You know I... Can't go against your father's orders." Arthur insisted sadly.
"I know." Kiku said softly. It was a foolish idea in the first place.
~
The first thing Kiku heard was the rush of maids and butlers running to greet the ship as it came in. Kiku followed them to the port where a crowd had gathered. Arthur was among the group, standing upright, eyes locked on the ship that would soon take him away.
Kiku pushed his way through the crowd, hoping to confront his father once more. He hoped that if he made a confrontation public, he would get the support of the villagers.
When he got to the front however, he questioned himself. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? He didn't often deal with soldiers, so he didn't remember their outfits exactly, but he was certain the man on that ship were wearing something off. Before he could process possibilities, someone had screamed "Call the reinforcements!" He looked back to see villagers scattering.
Someone grabbed his shoulder. It was Arthur, of course, "Kiku, run! Find somewhere to hide. I'll find you later."
"What's going on?" Kiku frowned.
"It looks like a raid." Arthur said, "I'll stay here and help your men fight off the invaders."
"Wait, that can't be right." Kiku protested, "That's my father's ship."
"This is no time to argue."
"You come with me."
"Not now-" Arthur's eyes redirected to the ship as men started to jump off onto the port.
"Attention citizens of japan." A rather tall man had come off the ship, his arms crossed behind his back. "Late last night my men invaded your king's ship. We gutted his men and fed them to the sea. Your loved ones are dead. As for your king... Well, he received a more fitting treatment. Look for yourselves!" the man revealed his hands, and what was in one of them.
Akihiko's head.
Kiku couldn't move. He couldn't breath. It felt like everything around him was far away. Everything, that was, except for his father's head. Despite being focused on it, despite seeing only it, he couldn't believe it. The citizen's screaming faded in the background of his own white noise. Static in is mind as he tried to focus.
It had all happened too fast. It felt like an eternity before the reaction hit Kiku. But finally it flew at him all at once.
Full force.
Something felt like it was... Breaking.
Unable to get Kiku to leave, Arthur instead turned to the man. He pulled his sword and charged, "How dare you!" The man smiled and slid to the side, making Arthur ram his sword into a post on the dock.
"Kiku~" the man called to Kiku, "The Princess of Japan..." He walked up to Kiku, who had his head lowered so only his mouth was visible- held tightly in a frown. "Or should I say Prince?" That got Kiku's attention. The man began yelling, "You're the one I've been waiting for! Your father killed my son. For that, I swore he would pay!" He smiled and looked at Akihiko's head, "And here he is... But this isn't what I wanted."
He was about to say more, but he had to stop as Arthur charged again, "Leave Kiku alone!"
"Poor soldier," He laughed, "Falling in love with a prince in disguise."
"It doesn't matter." Arthur yelled, "Man or woman, I love Kiku."
The other crew members were hopping off the ship now. They started to scare off villagers, and some of them approached the distracted Arthur. In an unfair fight, they ganged up on him. Being a trained soldier, he put up a good fight, but in the end he was struck down.
A small splatter of blood hit Kiku's face.
And something snapped.
As the crew stood around laughing at their victory, Kiku walked over to Arthur. He was deathly calm. He was wordless, and seemed gone, so the men didn't stop him.
He bent down next to his soldier, taking the sword from his hand.
What happened next could be described as nothing short of blood shed.
Total blood shed.
Kiku turned to his first victim. A large man with an ax raised to strike. Before the man knew what happened, he was starring at his own arms. They were laying on the ground in a puddle of blood, still gripping their weapon. He then noticed the stumps where his arms used to be and screamed. He ran towards the village, screaming and bleeding until he finally fainted.
The next two targets were scrambling to fight Kiku, not wanting to be victims of his rage as their comrade had been. Kiku tripped the first man, holding his sword out to greet him as he fell- stabbing him through the head. An eye was ripped from its socket as Kiku pulled the sword back out. He spun and stabbed the second man in the gut, slicing horizontally to spill his intestines. The first man was still alive from the stab through the head, and was stumbling around on his knees. Kiku chose to cut off his legs, leaving him screaming as he fell into the guts of the other man.
He sliced clean through one man, listening as the sword shattered his spine and tore through muscle only to reappear on the other side. The upper half of this victim fell onto a man who'd had a good portion of his head chopped off, revealing his brain, and an eye barely hanging onto the skull.
Kiku jumped on a crate and came down with the sword, sloppily skinning one crew member from his neck to his stomach. He then kicked said man into a torch. The screams of all these victims were animalistic and haunting, at least for others. Kiku was unfazed.
One man after the other fell in various morbid manners. Some men tried retreating into the ocean. Their open wounds attracted fish, and the salt water stung, but despite their pain, they seemed to think it a better fate.
There were a few men left, and Kiku's blood lust was far from being satisfied. His kimono was tattered and bloody, barely hanging on him. He picked up a second sword from one of his victims and spun it as he eyed his remaining targets.
His next target was stabbed at one point with both swords, which were then separated to rip him apart. The men kept coming though, hoping they'd be the one to take the monster out. Hoping he'd be out of energy. None of them were so lucky.
Now it was down to Kiku and the ring leader. There were a few men unlucky enough to still be alive, but they'd been reduced to withering messes of agony around Kiku's feet.
"Decapitation is too good for you." Kiku's first words since breaking were said. "Your death will be as foul as you. I will take care to make sure whatever it is, it's fitting." The bandit charged him, but was no match for the enraged war machine of a prince. He was quickly tackled to the ground. "The death I give you may end up being too merciful." Kiku said, "You should feel lucky I'm not naturally so... Cold-Hearted." As the last two words were said, Kiku stabbed each sword into the man's shoulders, pinning him to the ground.
Kiku listened to the man scream as he got up and wondered around the dead bodies. He looked over their weapons, seeing what was around to be used. He took an arrow, casually spinning it around as he continued to look. He spotted something not among the bodies, but on a nearby market stand. It was a jar which had contents that perked Kiku's interest. He grabbed the jar and returned to the man.
"I know what I'm going to do." He smiled, crouching over the man. He took the arrow and slowly cut open the man's chest, down to his stomach. He was careful not to make it too thick, so the man would live as long as possible. He then grabbed the jar and waved it in front of the man for a moment so he could see it's contents- maggots- before opening it. He dumped the bugs into the open wound.
Kiku stood up and glanced around him. Most citizens had left, but some were still standing around in absolute shock and horror. "Do not dare move him!" Kiku yelled, "Leave him to suffer until he is absolutely dead!"
Whoever was speaking anymore, wasn't really Kiku. The rage had built up so deeply inside of him, that it was impossible for any part of Kiku to be alive. Everyone he loved was dead. Every living thing he'd ever cared about was gone. He might as well be the one on the ground being devoured by insects.
Then he smiled.
He was no longer attached to this world by anything.
He was free for the first time.
He began to laugh. Why should he care? He could just lay down and die as well.
He laughed harder, doubling over and holding himself.
But wait. Just as suddenly as the laughter came, it stopped.
There was one thing left he felt attached to.
Kiku turned towards the castle and ran. He ignored everyone's gaze. Before he got to the castle he grabbed a torch. When he got to the gates he stopped for a moment. He put on a fake air of composure before walking in. In a silent state like death itself, he walked down the halls he'd lived in his whole life.
He walked until he reached his destination.
The garden.