Author's Note:

Hello all and welcome to another chapter. This one features a long scene between Hinata and Takumi and is set in the Revelations route. Thank you those who've shown their support of this fic and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Against Wishes

With the gift of hindsight, Hinata decided that it had been a very foolish move to leave Hoshido alone.

After the destruction of the town and the death of Queen Mikoto, the war between Hoshido and Nohr had escalated drastically. With the barrier that protected the kingdom gone, proper Nohrian troops could invade and the resulting battle had caused Corrin to refuse to pick a side, tearing the Royal Family apart.

Ryoma had vanished, looking for allies and ways to deal with the threat, Takumi had left with Oboro for the kingdom of Izumo, Hinoka was staying to protect the palace, and, according to Yukimura, Sakura and her retainers had already joined up with Corrin. Hinata himself had initially been left at the palace, despite his desire to accompany Takumi as he was supposed to. While they'd attempted to say it was because they needed him to protect the palace, he knew full well it was just the siblings being overprotective. As such, he'd snuck out and followed after Prince Takumi in order to join him, he was supposed to be training to be his retainer after all.

Unfortunately, he ran into Zola and a group of Nohrians who'd secretly captured Izumo's Archduke Izana and (after a surprisingly long struggle where he injured several Nohrians) had been captured himself.

Leading him to where he was now, mainly tied up in a banquet hall filled with captives being lectured furiously by Oboro.

"What were you thinking, leaving Castle Shirasagi alone, do you realise how foolish that was!?"

Hinata answered with slight defiance, "But I'm supposed to be with Lord Takumi!"

"And you're supposed to do as he says!" She snapped back, "Wasn't he the one that ordered you to remain behind?"

"Technically it was Yukimura and wasn't officially an order."

That was sort of the truth, Yukimura had been the one to suggest that he be left behind, and the Royal Family had agreed. As such, it wasn't Prince Takumi who'd given the order and it had actually been given as a strong suggestion rather than an explicit command (though that might've been more because Hinata stopped arguing the point before it became one rather than anything else).

Unsurprisingly, Oboro was not impressed.

"That's not the point! If I wasn't tied up, I'd clip you round the ear for your stupidity!" Somehow, the spear fighter's glare intensified, "Do you realise how much trouble you've likely caused back at the palace? Princess Hinoka is probably going spare at your sudden disappearance!"

At that, Hinata did lower his head guiltily. In all honesty, he hadn't thought about it until now but Oboro was right, the eldest princess would be frantic at his running away, especially since Sakura had already run off to join Corrin. She'd probably sent Pegasus Knights all over Hoshido to try and find him and had likely scoured the land herself. He certainly would have a serious apology to make when he next saw her, in fact, she'd most likely whack him upside the head for this stunt.

Before he could reply, a blast of magic took out the door revealing Corrin and Sakura, indicating that they might actually be rescued.

It was sometime later, when they'd all been freed by Corrin's small band and the princesses and Takumi had entered discussions with Izana, and Hinata was sat down in the corner of the banquet hall.

Oboro had indeed clipped his ear and she'd ordered him, in no uncertain terms, to sit down and stay put. Wisely, the boy had obeyed, and he watched people milling about as they reorganised the hall and castle after the battle with Zola's group, occasionally rubbing his sore ear.

Hana had already found him, and he winced as he recalled her sharp few words with him, she was as unimpressed as Oboro with his actions and she let him know it. Subaki had apparently decided he didn't need to add his own lecture but that was little comfort to the boy since he knew that the worst was yet to come.

Namely his inevitable 'talk' with Takumi.

The prince could be as strict and unyielding as his older brother and while Hinata technically hadn't disobeyed a direct order, he had chosen to not agree to the prince's wishes, not really the best course of action for a retainer-in-training. Prince Takumi took that sort of thing very seriously and he certainly would not be happy with what he'd done.

All things considered, he really had been stupid.

He spotted the prince at the other end of the hall, discussing something with Oboro and his insides clenched. They only clenched tighter when the prince briefly glanced his way before saying something to his retainer and walking in his direction. As the prince approached, Hinata looked down, not wanting to meet the man's eyes.

"Hinata."

Though spoken at a normal level, Takumi's tone indicated just how angry he was and Hinata gulped. He hesitantly looked up and the prince gestured with his head.

"Follow me."

Obediently, the boy stood and followed the prince out of the hall and to one of the many small gardens scattered about the Izumo palace. Not once did the prince look back at him and Hinata kept his head down the whole way.

Angry was something of an understatement for how Takumi felt, he was furious.

Not only had he suffered the humiliation of being tricked and captured by a snake like Zola, but Hinata, who was supposed to be safe at Castle Shirasagi, had gone and followed him here, by himself! The child had stupidly come after him, ignoring their wishes, yes, he hadn't technically ordered him to stay but he'd have expected the boy to respect their say on the matter. On top of all this Izana had died in order to give them guidance and convince him to join with Corrin and he couldn't help but feel guilty, maybe if he hadn't been so stubborn and suspicious of his sister, Izana might still be alive.

All of this bubbled inside, fuelling his anger and leaving him unsure as how to deal with Hinata.

They reached the garden and Takumi stopped, hearing the boy do exactly the same behind him. He stood in silence, still not turning around, and took several, calming breaths, angry as he was, he couldn't let it all just surge forward upon the child behind him.

Once he felt ready, he turned around.

Hinata's head was hanging low, his eyes fixed guiltily on the ground in front of him, his body language indicating he was well aware of what he'd done. Steadily, Takumi spoke, "Hinata, look at me."

Slowly, meekly, the boy raised his head and looked him in the eye, his eyes confirming the prince's initial assumptions.

The child was indeed aware of the stupidity of his actions.

The prince sighed, "I assume I don't need to list all the reasons why what you did was stupid."

Truthfully, Takumi just didn't want to think about them, a lot of things could happen to a child travelling alone, kidnapping, injury, mugging, murder, the war with Nohr only increased the chance of such things happening and he would be forever grateful the boy made it to Izumo unscathed.

Hinata's answer was quiet, "No Milord."

The silence stretched on as Takumi considered his next words, "Then why did you do it?"

He actually had a pretty good idea why, but he wanted the boy to say it himself, confessing what you'd done and why you'd done it was important.

Again, Hinata's answer was quiet, "Because, I felt that I should accompany you."

"Even though we expressed our wish for you to remain at home."

At this, the boy faltered and looked down once more, knowing he didn't really have a good answer for that one. The prince briefly closed his eyes before continuing, "Hinata, when we ask something of you we expect you to listen to it, you're still a child and as such, you have to respect your elders. This is something you've largely done up until now so why have you chosen to ignore it this time, why did you feel you had to follow me?"

This time, silence was his answer and he waited for the boy to speak. Eventually, Hinata slowly, hesitantly, gave something more, "Because…because I…I felt I had to prove myself."

It was just as Takumi suspected, because he himself had felt the same way many times. Ryoma was a hard act to follow, his brother was so…perfect, he, unintentionally made others feel inferior. For much of his life, Takumi had longed to stand out from his brother, prove that he could be as powerful as him, it was a feeling he knew all too well. Hinata was the son of two of Hoshido's most renowned samurai, on top of that, he'd been trained by Ryoma himself and lived with the Royal Family, this brought expectation.

A couple of staff and nobles disliked the boy and we're always very judgemental of him but even those who liked him could be a problem. They'd seen him train with Ryoma and the other retainers and his natural skill was well known, this caused people to speculate, many saying that Hinata would be one of the greatest samurai before he was twenty, the palace blacksmith had even already started on a unique katana for when he was older, saying that a future legend needed a legendary blade. With all this expectation, it was no wonder the boy felt a need to prove himself.

However, he was still a child and a child should not be on the battlefield, no matter how skilled they were.

Crouching down, Takumi fixed the boy with a steady look, "Hinata, I understand your feelings, but doing something like this won't help, if anything, it'll only make things worse." He straightened up and looked down sternly, "Now, I can't let this go unpunished, at the moment, you're in my care and what you did can't be taken lightly, understand?"

The boy nodded meekly, "Yes Milord."

The prince continued, "As such, you will be confined to camp until further notice, only leaving with my express permission."

Again, the boy nodded, "Yes Milord." He then frowned in confusion, "Wait, camp?"

Takumi merely nodded, "Yes, camp. You will be accompanying us for the foreseeable future."

Hinata took a moment or two to realise what that meant and then his eyes lit up hopefully, "So, you're not sending me back to Hoshido?"

The prince kept his face stern, "No, but only if you follow every order you are given, also, you are not to take part in battle unless there is no other option, instead you are to hide someplace safe when combat arises, do I make myself clear?"

The boy closed his eyes and bowed in understanding, "Yes Milord, I fully understand."

Takumi nodded approvingly, "Good, now report to Oboro and assist her with whatever tasks she gives you."

Again, Hinata bowed before hurrying off, clearly resolved to do exactly as Takumi asked of him. Once he'd gone, the prince closed his eyes and sighed.

It had been a bit of an on-the-spot decision of his to bring Hinata with them, ideally, they'd send him back to Castle Shirasagi where he'd be safe. However, as things stood, he didn't think it safe to send him back there now, if Nohrians had infiltrated the neutral Izumo then there could be bands of them within Hoshido itself. Also, they didn't have people to spare to send an escort with him, considering the tiny size of Corrin's forces, and Izumo was a pacifist nation, with little in the way of military so they couldn't exactly supply an escort either. As such, the safest option was to take the boy with them where they could at least protect him themselves, it wasn't perfect, and he didn't like it much, but Takumi considered it the best idea they had.

He just hoped Hinoka didn't kill him for it.

PS-A bit of interaction between Takumi and Hinata, as well as an explanation of how a child would end up travelling with the army. Please let me know what you thought as well as any suggestions for future chapters.