Chapter 15: Be careful

The air was brimming with warmth. Silence. And the occasional thumping of raindrops hitting the colorful glass of the window mosaik.

The clouds had gathered in the past few minutes and rounded up to a gigantic cushion of fluff as they poured the water they had tried so hard to hold in.

Izaya could hear faint voices, rushing in commotion as the mercenaries in front of the castle set up their tents to protect their goods.

It was a soothing noise.

It caused Izaya to relax and forced a certain kind of cozy sleepiness onto his mind.

Hands folded and expression stern Shizuo had stilled like a statue as his eyes were glued to the board.

"... I can only move those useless pawns?" he asked after what had felt like ages.

The game hadn't even started. Izaya wasn't even mad.

Taking his time to wreck his head about the first move said a lot about his determination to win.

"Don't forget the knight, but yes," Izaya confirmed.

Again Shizuo's eyes narrowed and he glanced at the knight, back at his numerous pawns and at Izaya's king.

"So I need to move to create a proper fighting ground first, huh?"

Cute.

It seemed like the king was getting invested.

"You are really treating this like a battle, aren't you?" Izaya snorted as Shizuo finally moved, placing the pawn in front of his king one field onwards.

Mirroring the action, Izaya pulled the same move.

A little fazed by how quick Kururi had been to decide on her move, Shizuo hesitated.

"My turn right?" His future wife nodded, resting her chin on her palm as she took on a more relaxed manner.

"Of course."

Shizuo was very much aware that this was a battle of wits. His wife was smart. Smarter than him at least.

Seeing how carefree she seemed to be was sort of unsettling for the victory Shizuo wanted to seize.

Eyeing the most powerful pawn of the board, Shizuo grasped the smooth material of the pawn that was the queen as he moved her diagonally.

First one field, then two, three, four- he paused, hand still resting on his queen as he looked at Kururi's army.

No.

Four was too far, right?

Glancing up at her, Kururi merely showed a perfectly relaxed expression.

She wasn't giving away even the slightest hint on whether his move was smart or disastrous.

Recalling the rules, Shizuo quickly checked the pawns.

No.

He was safe, right?

No pawn was there to be slayed.

He hadn't been able to threaten the king or slay a pawn, but neither did Kururi.

And having his queen in the middle of the board to move freely was a good thing, right?

Not even batting an eyelid Kururi reached forward, pulling one of her simple pawns from their position- and brought it up two fields, right next to Shizuo's queen.

Huh?

Confusion overwhelmed the blond for a moment.

The pawn was right next to his queen.

Meaning he could slay it easily.

Looking up at Kururi's expression, she didn't seem to regret her action.

Shizuo looked at the horse.

No, it was out of reach.

Same for the tower. The priest too.

… was she feeding him one of her pawns on purpose?

To help?

Shizuo hummed.

Of course, she thought he needed help. So she decided to sacrifice one of her lower ranking soldiers.

Hah!

What a mistake!

Prideful as she was, Shizuo knew Kururi would let him win on purpose, but if she wanted to play with a handicap thinking she could still win, then he would show her!

Moving his queen to the left he slayed the simple pawn.

Eyes flickering up to Kururi's expression he searched for a hint of surprise.

None followed.

She had really just sacrificed her pawn.

Feeling victorious, Shizuo watched as Kururi moved another pawn.

Again, this time on the right side, just on the same level of his queen.

How many pawns was she willing to feed him for free?

Feeling elated by the tremendous advantage his bride was willing to give, Shizuo moved his queen to the far right.

"With this I got two of your soldiers!" he announced proudly, arranging the proof of his deeds in front of his side of the board.

"The second, yes, the best? Not so much." And with that she moved.

Gracefully, opposite to Shizuo who had actually knocked the pawns over, she grasped Shizuo's queen, before placing her tower in its position.

Watching the action with dread Shizuo realized he had been wrong with his assumption.

"...right." She wasn't feeding him her pawns.

He had gotten baited like an idiot.

A mischievous smile spread across Kururi's expression as she hummed.

"Do you want to go back a turn?"

As if.

No way in hell.

"No, no. It's fine, let's continue." There was no way Shizuo was going to let himself be treated like a child. He had made a mistake and lost his best man. But the war wasn't over!

Eyes serious and expression stoic, he noticed how the room had gotten a little darker due to the weather outside.

Quickly getting up he fished one of the candles from the walls and brought it to the table.

Izaya chuckled, watching the king move in obvious dissatisfaction.

The face he had made when he took his queen had been priceless.

A deep frown was carved into his forehead as he sat back down.

"Just asking, but you aren't gonna flip the board on me if you lose, right?" Izaya chuckled, and Shizuo's attention redirected itself towards his future wife.

A teasing smile spread across his expression as he shrugged.

"Only if you keep taking away my pawns."

Two could play this game.

Kururi blinked shortly, then laughed.

"That's the point of the game though."

Shizuo shrugged, "So? Just don't slay them. You said you can win without taking a single pawn. Was that only talk?"

Hoh.

Indeed.

Izaya said so.

And Shizuo was clearly trying to manipulate the game so he could secure victory.

But who would Izaya be to decline a challenge?

Smile set in place and eyes glinting in excitement, Izaya gracefully signed towards the board.

"Your turn, my king."

Pleased Shizuo looked at the pawns once more.

He had lost the queen.

He was definitely at a disadvantage- but with this new rule it wouldn't matter.

Drawing forth the horse he placed it before the pawn that was covering his tower.

Most of his pawns were locked in position as the simple pawns had yet to be moved and so he decided jumping around with his first animal of choice was the fastest option at hand.

Drawing his own figures forth Izaya made room for his own queen to move. Then the rooks, the bishops- Shizuo stayed true to his direct nature and reliably took care of the simple pawns Izaya offered one after the other.

But his joy was short-lived.

Having placed his right bishop to the far left it was not his queen's turn to move.

Don't slay a single pawn.

That had been the order.

And he certainly made sure he didn't as he placed the queen right next to the king.

The first pawn Shizuo had moved in the game had left that one chance to fulfill the requirement as the field had left an open path.

Victory laid in Shizuo's eyes as he reached for his king.

"Check mate."

Freezing mid-motion Shizuo glanced up at his future wife.

"What?"

Izaya chuckled- he actually felt somewhat bad for defeating the king.

"You can't slay my queen, the bishop is covering her," he explained curtly pointing at his bishop, then guiding it's path towards his queen's position to demonstrate.

Realization dawned on Shizuo as he groaned.

"No way- it barely moved-"

"Any of the pieces can win the game, their moves say nothing about the outcome of a round."

He couldn't believe he lost.

Even with the extra rule of not being allowed to take any of his pawns his bride had beat him in minutes.

He even took most of her pawns. All eight soldiers and one of his horses.

"You didn't use your towers though," he remarked, looking at the untouched pawns.

"Of course not, you were watching them like a hawk."

Also with this kind of setting they were actually somewhat hard to use with their lack of flexibility.

And Shizuo might have realized his plan sooner.

The king, however, merely snorted at his reply.

"Of course you would say that now." his voice held a certain amount of mockery and Izaya huffed.

"What? "Don't believe me?"

A shrug was given, but the glance did not drop.

"You just don't want to admit that the queen is the better pawn. You even used it to win."

As if-

"An idiot like you wouldn't understand."

The king blinked, then laughed. "Hoh, I didn't know you could be this harsh."

Realization dawned on Izaya. He had acted quite rude- unfitting for a wife, no less a lady-

He opened his lips, wanting to apologize for his words, but Shizuo was faster as he let his head lean on his palm and a smile drew upon his features.

"I like it."

And somehow Izaya's words fell short.

The king was smiling. Genuinely. Gentle. His expression had softened to something too pleasant to disturb as Izaya couldn't help but feel somewhat enraptured.

A loud knock was what shattered the moment Izaya wasn't sure how to judge as the door to the chamber opened.

"My lord, the knights have returned," the butler announced between a few heaps of breath.

He had obviously been running to get the news to the king as quickly as possible.

"Sorry. I better get going," Shizuo announced, promptly rising from the couch.

"Already?" Izaya found himself asking, not quite managing to hide his worry.

"Yeah, there are more of the bastards that tried to harm you."

With unease Izaya remembered the previous night.

It hadn't been too long since he had feared for his life, but during this game of chess he had almost forgotten about it.

Absent-mindedly he briefly touched his collarbone and the cut hidden underneath the scarf as he looked at the king.

Shizuo didn't even sleep a wink.

Sacrificing the innkeeper's chamber for Izaya, he had stayed up all night.

It was raining cats and dogs too.

Yet he was ready to charge and leave again with the knights at his side.

Striding towards the door Shizuo took a pair of gloves the butler had brought along.

It would be cold outside and the rain would be soaking them all.

But they had to take care of the matter now or those bastards would be gone.

"Be careful."

Surprised, he stopped in his motion.

Kururi.

Looking over his back she had stood up from the couch as well.

Her expression showed concern in a way that sent Shizuo's guts flying as much as it warmed his chest.

Worry.

That's what reflected in her face.

"...I will be." He assured quickly, almost failing to speak properly as he cleared his throat.

Turning back to the hall a happy smile dared to force its way onto his expression.

The door closed and Izaya sighed.

He didn't know what got into him, but he somehow felt the urge to protect that idiot.

He was quick to act, not dumb, but just reckless in the same manner he had played the game.

Izaya was quite amazed. The more he got to know the king the better he liked him.

He was a far better man than he had thought him to be.

"My king!"

Rain and heaps of wind battled each other for dominance as Shizuo emerged from the castle.

The soaked knight's eyes, just having returned from their search, were not tired from exhaustion but driven by action.

"We found several women and children in basements all over the West," one of the knights quickly spoke as he stepped back up onto his horse.

"I take it you released them?" Shizuo questioned, getting onto his own horse with a quick motion.

"Most, but leads point to more, just past the boundary. We need you at our side to advance further."

Reigning his horse in the blond kicked its sides.

"Then what are we waiting for- go!"

And with that the horses neighed as they dashed off into the direction of the nearby woods.

It was cold.

Air, rain and the cold seeped into Shizuo's clothes and bones within a matter of seconds.

And yet somehow he felt warm.

The idea of what those bastards might have done to his bride caused his blood to boil as much as it froze.

A mixture of various feelings overwhelmed the king as they dashed on, on the rainy road.

He couldn't stomach the idea that he might have lost her a second later.

It was funny.

Just a day ago he had cursed the idea of a forced marriage -... but now?

Kururi was prideful, had a temper too. She cut her hair to avoid the marriage- she was stubborn, sometimes harsh with her choice of words.

And yet- underneath all those hisses and claws she liked to present she was gentle. Warm. Intelligent.

Helpful. Understanding.

When he had told her about his insecurity as the new king she had not laughed. She hadn't called him weak or told him he wasn't fit for the position.

Instead she pointed out the traits that differed from his father- traits a king should have that he owned.

It took much more weight off his shoulders than a short conversation like that should, he supposed.

And yet…

"Be careful."

Somehow these words just felt like what he had always longed to hear.

to be continued~

Daw - someone is starting to develop some feelings here~ C: C: C:

And uffffff- next chapter- ... I can promise you, you will squeal xDDD

But enough spoiler~ see you next Saturday~

PS.: One question, recently AO3 takes like AGES to load xD When I try to upload a chapter the site crashes like 5 times minimum or doesn't load at all and I haave no idea why- only AO3 tho. All other pages work completely fine- does anyone have an idea or a tip what I could do about that? xD It's not the internet connection I'm playing leage at 20ms and 200fps xD