Night Hunters

Chapter Two: Through the Trapdoor

"That's why we are here: to seek a better tomorrow." - Kuroko Tamaki

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Kuroko Tamaki was twelve when she had swore to protect the Prince—her cousin, to her dying breath.

Both her parents have been soldiers serving in the Royal Guard—the personal bodyguards of the King and Queen of Teiko, and they have given their lives to keep them safe during the war. Thus, both were granted First Class Honours after the war had ended. Regardless, that didn't make Tamaki feel any better when she'd received word of their deaths. Nor does it make Shige-kun or Shogo-kun feel any better when messengers arrived on their front doorstep, telling them that their parents have perished in the war too.

The Prince himself had sponsored all three of them into the military academy. And when Tamaki had turned twelve, and had thus started her apprenticeship under the Captain of the Royal Guard, she was placed on the Prince's personal guard detail.

Often, the Prince would sneak away to a flower field not too far away from the Royal City without any of his guards. But when Tamaki was assigned to his guard detail, the red haired prince found to his annoyance that he could never escape Tamaki's watchful eye. Pretty soon, however, he grew used to it, and both of them treasured the time that they had together when they don't have to worry about appearances, and not have to remember that they're a Prince and a soldier.

"I wonder... What makes a good King?" Seijuro wondered, lying flat on his back in the flower field, holding his hand up above his face, partially covering his view of the skies and the clouds. "What makes a good Kingdom?"

Tamaki who was lying next to him, reading one of her books, placed her book down, wondering how to answer that question. "Well... For starters, I don't like going hungry or even being cold." She shrugged. "I don't really know what makes a good Kingdom or even a good King. But I do know that as long as you follow your heart and your desired path, you cannot go wrong. You are a good Prince. You only want the best for your people. You despise war and conflicts, and wish for peace instead. If you had a choice, I think that you wouldn't want to fight. I might be wrong, but I think this makes you a good Prince, and an even better King."

Seijuro smiled at his cousin, sitting up. "...I promise you, Tsuyu. I will be a good King." He promised, staring at his clenched fist. "I will protect this kingdom with my last breath, and even my people. And I want you to watch me do it."

Tamaki said nothing for several moments before she sat upright and drew out the blade resting against her waist.

The pure black blade that had been passed down through her family for generations, and that her father had carried into war with him, using that same blade to defend the royal family. And when she had left for the Royal City to attend the military academy with her two childhood friends, she had taken that blade with her.

"Tsuyu?" Seijuro was surprised even as he watch Tamaki struck the tip of her blade into the ground in between them, one hand resting on the hilt.

"...I hadn't finished my apprenticeship, so I really shouldn't be doing this yet, but..." Tamaki closed her eyes briefly before getting down on one knee, her head bowed.

At this point, Seijuro knew what his cousin had in mind now. How many times had he seen it performed? In the Teiko Kingdom, whenever someone enters the Royal Guard, they make a vow before the royal family, or whichever member of the royal family that they're assigned to protect explicitly. To the soldiers serving in the Royal Army or even the Royal Guard, that vow is sacred, and they'll choose to die before choosing to break their vow.