(So just for confirmation the first part of this one-shot is them when they were 12 and the second one is them when they're 17. Kirumi is 15 at the beginning and then 20 later. Also this is not proof-read.)
Saihara was a prince.
That was just a fact.
It meant he had it all. Outfits, toys, games, whatever he desired could be bought in a matter of seconds. But now tell me... what would be the point of all that when you had everybody fear you and stay away from you as if you were some plague? And the thought of always being alone, with nobody who truly cared about you as a person, only ever wanting something in return was becoming more real by the second?
That was Saihara's view on it. Saihara's parents weren't like him, if not the complete opposite. They didn't care about others. People of the lower class were just maggots at their feet. They could only make themselves useful by serving the Saihara family. And the treatment of servants was horrible too. Terrible punishments were created to supposedly 'teach them a lesson and keep them in line'. What's even worse was the fact that some servants were young teenagers just trying to help out their family, and already at this age, they'd be beaten senseless. Saihara, however, was nothing like that. He was kind to his servants, sometimes helping them just so they can avoid the punishment.
This violence caused every kid in the kingdom to fear Saihara. They avoided him because they didn't wanna risk angering him and having his parents involved. And so Saihara became lonely. His parents saw him get sadder and sadder every day. They were completely oblivious to the problem and since their son apparently couldn't make friends on his own, they did the next best thing.
"YOU BOUGHT ME A SLAVE?!" Saihara screamed. He was outraged. How could they just buy someone and ask him, no, force him to be friends with him?! That's just terrible!
"Now honey, don't call him a slave, it makes us sound bad. Think of him more as an item bought to entertain and serve you! Plus didn't you always want a servant to do everything you wish for?" His mother said clapping her hands to which Saihara looked at her mad "Mother you do know that he's human just like us? Or are you so heartless you can't even see that?" He said furiously as his mother puffed out her cheek. "Do you know why I can't find friends? It's because you always do stuff like this. You treat people like worms and resort to violence in every possible scenario! It's sickening! You're the worst mo-"
SLAP!
Saihara touched his cheek as he watched his mother's glare pierce through him. His parents hurting him was nothing new but the pain was always bad. "Don't you dare speak to your mother like that! Don't you know how much it costed us to get you a friend?! We bought a child off the black market!" she screamed before taking deep breaths and shaking her head "Saihara, you won't use this tone of voice on me or your father ever again. If you do, you're going to have to be punished." she said in a serious tone "Understood?" She said to which Saihara responded with a small nod. She clapped her hands happily. "Okay, go and introduce yourself, he's in the other room." She said pointing at the door. She opened the door and let him inside and went inside as well.
In the room stood a young boy, about his age, looking around curiously. He had purple hair and shiny amethyst eyes which were now fixated on him. He had pretty white clothes which Shuichi recognized to be made in the palace and a checkered scarf on his neck which looked ragged. Maybe Shuichi's mother let him keep it?
"Saihara, this is Ouma-kun. He's going to be your new friend, companion, and most importantly, your main servant!" she said glaring at Ouma. He looked at her annoyed and bowed. It was required of you to bow once meeting the member of the royal family. Shuichi always felt a little more than uncomfortable when they did that. He didn't like being the center of attention.
"We've made him wear something more presentable because when he arrived he was wearing disgusting rags. You are allowed to anything with him as well as punishments. Have fun you two!" She said walking away and closing the door. "Hi..." Saihara said shyly. He didn't really know how to respond to someone who was just 'assigned' to be his friend. What can you say? Everything in this situation was awkward and Saihara didn't know how to fix it or if anything could be done about it.
"Hello! So you're the kid that's gonna make me their slave! Great!" the boy said with sarcasm lacing his voice. "I didn't want to enslave you okay? My parents are evil incarnate and they don't think I can make friends on my own so they resort to this. It's horrible." Saihara said looking down at the ground. Even though it was his parents' fault, he felt as though he was the guilty one. The boy eyed him. Saihara thought he might be analyzing if he was lying but after a while, the boy just returned to his fake smile."Well, I gotta agree with you there. I've been here ten minutes and I already got beat up by your bitch mother" he said bluntly, without much thought.
"Yes, they do that to servants a lot if they break the rules... I try my best to stop them but I'm still unable to stop my parents from hurting everyone" Saihara said gloomily. He still remembered watching people get beaten right in front of his eyes. It hurt him that he wasn't able to save everyone and that people still got hurt despite his efforts. The boy looked at him slightly doubtful, but shook his head and changed the topic. "Well, getting off that terrible topic, I see that you're a prince. That's so cool!" he said his eyes sparkling.
"Really? I honestly don't like it that much...I'd trade anything for a normal life." Shuichi answered. "Well I, as a future Supreme Leader of Evil, will soon conquer the whole wide world! Nishishi~!" he said with a giggle. Shuichi couldn't help but laugh by the sudden enthusiasm radiating from the boy. He saw the boy blush and then continue to holler. "F-First! I'll replace every drink in the world with Panta! OOh! And make every day Christmas! So that everybody gets a gift!"
Shuichi continued to laugh. Ouma grinned before getting an idea. "Hey! Since you're a prince where's your crown?" he asked. Shuichi stopped laughing. "O-Oh! It's in my room...I only wear it during official occasions." he said then adding "Which is basically all the time heh.". "Oooh! Show me!" Ouma said excitedly. Shuichi smiled. Might as well right? They walked together to Saihara's room. A fancy cyan-colored room. It had stacks of books and rows of plushies lying about and Ouma's eyes glowed.
"Woah! Your room looks so cool!" he expressed as he looked at the various stuffed animals on shelves. "And your crown. When I take over the world I'll definitely have one just like that!" He said pointing to the crown on a big pillow. Shuichi giggled. Ouma examined the room more. His eyes glowed at the sight of shelves filled to the brim with plushies.
"I have never seen so many plushies! Man, you gotta be living your best life with so much fluff!" he commented. "N-Not really...some of these toys are things that they bought for me specifically because they were popular. I didn't e-even want some of t-these..." Shuichi said sadly. Ouma looked at him curiously. "You don't seem like you enjoy this rich lifestyle..." Ouma said looking over at Shuichi. "What's the point of having expensive one thousand toys if you have nobody to play with or talk to...when everybody is scared of you..." Shuichi asked looking at the ground. Everybody was afraid of him and his parents. The only people that didn't shy away from him were aristocrats who were usually too caught up in their own heads with their wealth and popularity that they didn't value friendship as anything unless there's something in it for them.
"You don't scare me."
Shuichi looked up in surprise. "I'm not scared of you. And...I also never got a chance to play toys with anybody..." he said looking at the collection of plushies. "Y-You haven't...?" Shuichi's eyes widened as Ouma nodded. "W-Well would you mind playing with me?" Shuichi asked. Ouma beamed and quickly nodded. "Yay! I get to have my first playdate!" he said picking up two of Saihara's teddy bears. Shuichi smiled.
They had a fun time playing until...
Kirumi entered the room clearly annoyed. She was like the staff manager, keeping everyone in the castle in check despite being only fifteen. She looked over at Ouma. "Ouma, as I explained to you, as Shuichi's SERVANT you have duties to do. And those duties need to be done at specific times on time not a minute off. And from what I see all you've done is play around. We have no place for slackers." she said glaring. "Oh yeah, I ignored all of that, I don't give a shit about those procedures you have." he said before giggling "But that's a lie, I simply forgot~," he said shrugging. Kirumi put a hand to her forehead. "I'll let you off with a warning today, but I may not be so merciful later on. Now get on with it." she said before walking out. Ouma groaned "Guess we have to wrap this playdate short cause of Kirumhoe here, but that was fun." he said. Shuichi chuckled nodding before Kirumi took Shuichi by the hand and lead him out of the room.
After an hour was in his PJs and ready to go to bed. Kirumi continued to explain everything Ouma has to during the day and how it's meant to be done. Once she was done she tucked Saihara to bed and lead Ouma to his room. As Shuichi held his bunny plushie tight to his chest he couldn't help but be happy he made a friend. Of course, he'd wish he'd met his first friend in better circumstances but the excitement was still there. He never had friends before, he never played with anyone before and being able to finally do some of these things really made him feel at peace.
And with that, he fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day Shuichi woke up to the sound of Ouma's yelling and ringing a tiny silver bell. "Master Shuichi! Wake up you sleepy head!" he said pouncing on the bed. Shuichi groaned covering his ears. "Okay! okay! You can stop that now, I'm awake. And you don't have to call me master when nobody else is around y'know..." he said with a small chuckle. "Okay! Kirumi brought you your clothes. They're in the bathroom. After that, I'm supposed to brush your hair, lead you to the dining room and bring you your breakfast. I'll tell you one thing being a servant sure is boring!" he yawned for emphasis "At the very least I don't have to run around much, the staff rooms are not far from your bedroom..." he said lying on Saihara's bed as Saihara walked to the bathroom to dress. When he was dressed, he got out and sat by the vanity. Ouma walked up to him and grabbed the brush from the table, gently brushing his hair.
"Hey, Shuichi! I noticed something weird about the royal family and I wanted to ask about it." Ouma asked Shuichi wanting him to continue.
"Why do you all have ahoges? Your mother has two, your father one and you have one. Is this some sort of hereditary thing?" he asked. "Ummm...I don't know actually, but every member of my family has at least one..." he said thinking about it. One of his relatives said there was a myth that it helped the royal family see who was guilty and who was innocent...? They later said it was a joke but if that was true then why did his parents make such poor choices?
"Anyway all done, time for breakfast~! Well for you anyway, I didn't have anything to eat yet." he said putting down the brush and leading Saihara to the dining room. Shuichi sat down and Ouma went to fetch breakfast. He came back with a silver tray of food.
"Woah...you get to drink hot chocolate and eat waffles with maple syrup for breakfast? I wish I could eat something so good..." He said basically drooling. "You can have some if you want?" Shuichi said but Ouma shook his head. "It's against the rules and I don't really want Kirumhoe bothering me again so I think I'll restrain myself for a bit." he said with a mischievous voice before walking off to do some other chores. Shuichi sighed. He really didn't deserve waffles and hot chocolate for breakfast every day after all his family has done. He deserved to live in the sewers, living off cooked rats. He wished he could just run away from it all.
As Saihara finished his breakfast he heard a yell in the kitchen. Curious, he sat up from his seat and came over. His eyes widened at the sight. Ouma was held by the hair by one of the servants, Kuro and Shuichi's father seemed to be yelling at him. The kitchen staff was also there, displeased. "What's going on...?" Shuichi asked concerned about why Ouma was held by his hair. It must've been very painful. "The little brat just stole some of the royal sweets from the cabinet!" one of the cooks yelled. He stole...candy. That's why they're arguing???
"Those sweets are only meant for the royal family! A box of chocolate roses with strawberry filling!" the staff yelled glaring at Ouma. "Ouma ever since you've come here all you do is lash out at Kirumi and disobey orders. I think it's best you learn your place. Maybe then... you'll finally follow instructions." Shuichi's father spoke coldly. Oh no, oh no it's happening again.
"W-What?" Ouma asked with less confidence. He had to admit, he was scared. Saihara's father's gaze was sharp, devoid of any sort of sympathy. It made him scared and it made Saihara even more scared knowing what was to come.
"Father no! Please!" he pleaded. "I'm so sorry son but Ouma has to learn. Kuro, take Ouma to the punishment room" the father said to the man who was holding Ouma. Kuro grinned. He really liked his job, executing and punishing servants. "Sure thing boss!" He said cheerfully as he dragged the purple-haired boy away.
Shuichi panicked and ran after Kuro. Ouma was his age and this bastard wanted to punish him?! No way! But sadly it was too late. Ouma was thrown into the punishment room, Kuro walking in after and locking the door. Shuichi banged at the door but it was futile. He sat down next to the door somber. The screams soon started and Shuichi felt like crying. His family was the one doing it. They were the ones who hurt him. And because it was his family's fault, it was his fault as well. He was also the one responsible for his suffering. Shuichi waited and waited until Ouma was finally let out, or rather, thrown out. He was bleeding heavily and trembling.
Despite knowing him for a day, Shuichi had already grown quite attached to the boy. Which is why this sight left him horrified. "S-Saihara..." Ouma said, his voice hoarse. Shuichi's eyes filled with tears as he brought the boy closer to his chest. "Ouma! Oh my god...we have to get you to Kirumi!" he said as he picked up the boy and tried to find his blonde caretaker. Eventually, he found the blond maid and started tugging at her dress.
"Kirumi! Please! I need your help he yelled as he held the barely conscious boy in his hands. Kirumi quickly picked up the boy and looked at his wounds. "Kuro must've had a bad day. If he got hit for any longer, there might've been a chance for him to die." She spoke calmly despite the severity of the situation. Shuichi flinched at the sound of the word 'die'. It's disgusting his parents would almost kill a person just for touching a box of chocolate roses reserved for the royal family.
"In normal circumstances, all it would take for Ouma to recover was a week or two and bandages but judging by previous experiences I had with your parents, they'll only let him rest for one day and that is not nearly enough for him to recover" Kirumi spoke. Saihara's eyes widened. His parents often beat employees but this was their worst beating yet, and for such a petty reason. "He's definitely gonna have some difficulties when completing his chores..." she said sadly. Saihara hugged the boy to his chest. "D-Don't worry Ouma-kun! I-I'll help you! A-And...A-And I'll make sure nobody from my family ever lays a finger on you...
EVER!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Years passed since that day. As Saihara and Ouma grew older they've only gotten closer. Ouma has become more obedient to the commands since that day, which seemed to take a toll on his enthusiasm around others. The only time he'd be himself was around Shuichi, but around others, he'd act obedient, emotionless almost like a machine. Which is why they often spent time outdoors because it helped them get away from Saihara's horrid parents. Today they also decided to take a walk. It was winter. They were walking out when Shuichi noticed Ouma wasn't wearing a jacket or any winter clothing, not even his scarf.
"Ouma-kun?! Where's your jacket, it's winter!" Saihara asked confused. Ouma just laughed bitterly. "I washed one of the dishes with the wrong side of the sponge and your mother decided that as punishment, I don't get a jacket since I'm not worthy of that anymore apparently," he said chuckling at the entire ordeal "Thank god I hid my scarf. At the very least I still have that." he said pulling the scarf out of his pocket and tying it around his neck. Saihara's blood boiled. Lately, he had stopped calling his mother 'mom'. Their relationship was strained and Saihara swore that he would never be a cruel monster like her.
However, he couldn't stand the thought that he was wearing a fancy expensive jacket while Ouma stood there shivering with no winter wear to help him deal with the cold. Saihara already had privileges that just seemed unfair to the rest of the castle's residents. "W-Well...here..." he said taking off the jacket and handing it to Ouma. Ouma-kun stared at it, before blushing. "B-But Saihara that's your jacket! A meek servant like me does not deserve your kindness!" he spoke shocked. Ah, did I not mention?
You see throughout his years as a servant the number one thing people kept telling him 'You're nothing, the only reason why you're still alive is Master Saihara'. It was a motto that was meant to be engraved into his mind forever. And as you know, if you hear something constantly for about 5 years every single day, you might start to believe it. Repeated phrases sadly stick in your mind. And with that, Ouma soon found himself believing more into this fabricated lie. If Saihara wasn't the kind angel he was, Ouma-kun was sure he'd fully comply with the commands and think of himself as a tool and not a human being. "Well, I want you to take it. Your happiness is my happiness. And of course, I wouldn't want you to be cold. I have my wool sweater so I'll be fine." Saihara smiled making Ouma blush even more. He put on the jacket and nuzzled into the white synthetic fur attached to the hood.
"Thank you...No one's ever done that for me before..." he said shyly. Saihara just grinned. "Really? You don't deserve all the shit you get" he said making Ouma make a dramatic gasp. "Oh my gosh! Did Master Saihara just swear?! I think I might just pass out...you are not to speak such profanity!" he spoke in an irritating voice. He was trying to imitate Saihara's mother which made Shuichi laugh. "Quite convincing... sounds just like the original." he said with a chuckle. "Original? Really?" Ouma asked to which Saihara nodded. "Yep. Annoying just like her." he said giggling. Ouma smiled. Saihara looked... cute... when he laughed.
On reflex, Ouma pinched his skin. It was a habit, a habit to keep himself in check. Incorrect thoughts, incorrect actions... It was a way to remind him of the punishment room and about what happened that day because that day traumatized him for the rest of his life. In this case, it was incorrect thoughts because lately, he felt that the bond between Saihara and him that used to be just BFFs was now something... more. He didn't know what it was because he had never experienced this feeling towards someone. But it was a strong, warm and soothing feeling. One that made him at peace and throw all his troubles away. But Ouma often speculated about what this pleasant feeling was and the only theory he came up with...
Is that this feeling...was love.
But everyone knew that relationships between a rich prince and a servant would be regarded as disgraceful, unacceptable...so the only way was to suppress them deep inside his mind. They continued walking through the snowy forest. It was then when something caught his eye. He slowly walked over to it and called Saihara over. "Look Shuichi! It's a crocus!" Ouma said pointing at the single purple flower amongst the snow.
Shuichi nodded looking at the little, fragile flower "It's quite pretty...the petals are the color of your eyes and hair..." he then added. Ouma blushed muttering a shy 'thank you' before reaching to grab the flower only for Shuichi to pull his hand away from the flower. "Leave it alone to grow. It's done so much to break through the snow and give some color to this cold season, it doesn't deserve to die..." he said with a sigh. Ouma chuckled "Man, you sound like a terrible poet" but then stared at the flower. "But I guess you're right, let's g-" he stopped when he looked at his watch.
Every servant at one point got himself a watch to never be late. But it seems that Ouma forgot to check his watch. "Oh no...SHIT!" he yelled as he took off the jacket handing it to Saihara before grabbing Shuichi by the hand and running. "O-Ouma-kun!" Shuichi yelled out surprised. "WE NEED TO GET TO THE CASTLE NOW! YOU'RE PARENTS INFORMED ME THEY HAD TO HAVE A MEETING WITH YOU AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT!!!" he screamed back panicked "IF WE'RE NOT THERE AND READY IN TEN MINUTES, WE'LL BE IN A TON OF TROUBLE!" he added.
Shuichi immediately understood the situation and started running faster. As soon as they took off the winter wear and hanged the jacket on the clothes hanger they ran quickly through the hallways, to get to the area where they supposed to meet, when suddenly
CRACK!
Both Shuichi and Ouma looked back. A two thousand dollar vase from Shuichi's deceased grandmother now laid on the ground in pieces. It seemed that they bumped into it on their way here. Ouma grabbed at his hair whispering curse words over and over again, panicked. As if the situation couldn't get any worse, Saihara's parents had walked in on the scene. "Ouma-kun what's taking so-MY VASE!" Saihara's mother screamed at the sight of the broken vase right next to Ouma. It was then she glared at Ouma-kun, rage in her eyes. "YOU! YOU BROKE IT!" she yelled, visibly upset. It was then that most of the staff noticed the commotion. Kirumi and Kuro were also there. Seeing his wife upset, Saihara's father decided to take action.
"Ouma, your behavior is inexcusable! Two hours in the punishment room!" he yelled causing both Saihara and Ouma go pale. The punishment room...it was that phrase that caused Ouma's memories to flash before his eyes and cause his breathing to go uneven and tears to start welling up in his eyes. Shuichi then remembered. The promise...the promise he had made all those years ago...a promise he was determined to keep no matter the cost.
"No, father! It's not his fault!" Shuichi yelled out, standing in front of Ouma as if to protect him from the tyrant that was his father. Shuichi's father expression quickly changed. "What? Then who's fault is it?! Who broke your grandmother's precious vase?!?" he yelled out angered. Shuichi stayed silent for a moment before looking him in the eyes
"I-I did... I wasn't careful and I broke it. I'm very sorry..."
Ouma stared in shock at Shuichi. What the heck does he think he's doing?! There was a moment of silence before Saihara's father spoke once again, his voice cold as ice. "Sorry doesn't cut it, son. Two hours in the punishment room. Kuro, take him away." he said turning away and walking away with his wife as the black-haired man dragged Saihara off to the punishment room. Ouma slowly shook his head visibly shaking. "N-No...SAIHARA NO!" he said trying to run after the boy but was stopped by Kirumi. "You screaming isn't gonna help, Ouma. If anything it'll get you both in trouble." she said holding him back. Ouma hugged Kirumi crying. Kirumi sighed and crouched down holding him and letting him cry.
"I-It's my f-fault K-Kirumi... I w-wasn't following o-orders and n-now h-he's s-suffering...a-all b-because of m-me" Ouma hiccuped as Kirumi tried to comfort him the best she could...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During Shuichi's absence, Ouma was supposed to clean Shuichi's room. But no matter what, he couldn't forget Saihara. With every single second, Ouma felt like he was gonna burst into tears again. He sighed as he made the covers on the bed and started sweeping the floor.
He suddenly heard the door click. He immediately looked to the door. It was Saihara's father. Behind was Shuichi who he had been dragged here, because he was too weak to walk, slipping in and out of consciousness. His entire body was covered in cuts and bruises. Ouma gasped, almost dropping the broom he was holding. Oh god, he made Shuichi go through this... it's all his fault. He was taken out of his trance when Saihara's father spoke.
"Ouma, Saihara is bleeding. Patch him up and get him to bed. Else you'll get beaten too." Saihara's father said, throwing Saihara like a ragdoll on the floor. Ouma looked at Saihara terrified. The boy's back was bruised and he barely had enough strength to lift himself off the ground. It was a miracle he was even alive. As soon as Saihara's father was out of the room, Ouma let out a horrified scream.
"S-SAIHARA-CHAN!!" He screamed out, kneeling next to his hurt friend. Saihara looked up at him with half-lidded, but concerned eyes. "O-Ouma...are you o-okay? H-He didn't hurt you d-did he...?" he asked softly looking at the boy concerned. Ouma just looked at him shocked. Why was Saihara caring about him when he looks like he's about to die himself?!
"Hurt me?! Are you insane!? They tortured you for two hours to the point you look like you're about to die and you're thinking about me!? For god's sake, you're bleeding!" He yelled crying while Shuichi just smiled, his voice hoarse. "I-I don't care... I have to p-protect... you" he said as tears flooded his eyes. Why was Saihara so calm? WHY IS HE ACTING SO SELFLESS?!
"Don't be a fool... C'mon let's patch you up..." Ouma said supporting Saihara and bringing him over to the bed. He then ran to the bathroom for the first aid kit. When he came back Shuichi was already laying on the bed, seemingly slipping in and out of consciousness. "Why are you so kind to me? Why me?" Ouma muttered as he came over to the boy trying to treat the boy's wounds. He saw Shuichi raise his hand to Ouma's cheek caressing it. Ouma blushed. "I-It's b-because...O-Ouma...
I-I love....y..you..."
And with that he fainted, leaving Ouma a confused, blushing mess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ever since that day Ouma didn't know how to feel. Saihara saying that he loves him was like a tsunami destroying a city. It had completely destroyed the order and peace of life until now. How was he supposed to feel? Should he be honest? Should he tell him he loves him? Or should he lie so Saihara's father won't disown him? Was he even aware of what he was saying? I mean he was beaten mercilessly beforehand. And during while Ouma contemplated what Saihara's words meant, Saihara wasn't helping out much either. Turns out that Kuro was pissed off that day because of a group of kids that pranked him, and went full out on Saihara. Because of that, Saihara hasn't woken up since he fainted.
Kirumi told him that he shouldn't worry and that Saihara just needs time to recover. But that didn't stop Ouma from worrying. He'd stay by Saihara's side and just stare at him hoping he'd wake up soon so that they could get this thing sorted.
And one day, that wish came true.
Ouma's eyes widened at the sight of the prince weakly opening his eyes. Ouma's eyes welled up with tears as he watched his best friend and savior from punishment look at him with a small smile. He immediately pulled him into a delicate hug, being careful not to hurt him.
"Why the fuck did you do that...you had me crying for days..." he whispered as he held onto Shuichi. "Heh, I told you already didn't I? I had to protect you..." He spoke softly. "No, you didn't... I'm the servant Saihara, I'm the one who's supposed to protect YOU! Not the other way around..." He said looking at him with glossy eyes. "If you wish to help someone, status doesn't matter. I helped you because you're my best friend...my only friend" Saihara spoke as he too burst into tears.
They stayed there like this for a while.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now that you're awake your parents want to talk to you about whatever they wanted to talk that day," Ouma explained as they walked through the corridor. They haven't really discussed the topic of love since it happened. Ouma knew that it was probably just Saihara saying stuff he didn't really mean so that's why he pretended it never happened. After all, why would he mention it? It would only cause trouble if Shuichi really didn't mean to say it, and even if he did, then if his parents found out, Ouma would most DEFINITELY get an axe to the head.
He led Shuichi to the throne room as he was told to do and stopped in front of the huge wooden door. "I have to stay outside because of procedures but you go in. I'll meet you when you finish talking and then we can go for a walk together!" He said with a cheerful smile. Shuichi nodded, walked in and Ouma stood by the door as instructed.
Now Ouma thought that this visit was nothing unusual. He'd stay in front of the room, bored out of his mind until Saihara went out and started complaining about his parents. That didn't happen. He saw the door slam open as Saihara ran out of the room crying not even paying attention to anyone, including him. He saw as Kirumi ran after him, obviously concerned. Ouma, of course, ran right after but Kirumi told him she'll handle this. Ouma was obviously worried out of his mind but knew that she was probably gonna get him to calm down. She knew how to comfort people, despite her cold demeanor. After about an hour later when it was nearing dinner time, Ouma walked up to the door only to see Kirumi trying to convince Saihara to come out of his room. She sighed and came up to Ouma when she saw him.
"Ouma-kun could you do me a favor and ask Saihara if he could please come out before dinner? I even asked the staff to make his favorite dish yet he still refuses to come out...I thought that maybe he'll listen to you since you're his best friend..." Kirumi said clearly tired of negotiations with the prince. Ouma nodded and headed to the door. He knocked on it gently only to get the shout.
"I'M NOT COMING OUT KIRUMI! TELL MY PARENTS TO GO FUCK OFF IF THEY THINK I'M EVER COMING OUT!" Ouma flinched at those words knowing that Saihara, a literal symbol of composure and peace, would never snap at anyone like this. He gulped. Whatever happened must've scarred him.
"S-Saihara-chan? A-Are you okay?" Ouma stuttered even surprising himself by the sudden overflow of fear and worry. "Ouma-kun...? Is that... is that you?" he heard Saihara's voice soften. "Yeah it's me...listen um... I'm really worried about you. Can you open the door?" He asked. Surprisingly he heard the footsteps grow closer and closer to the door and then the sound of the door unlocking. "Come in and close the door behind you." he said his voice sad and despaired. Ouma opened the door slowly before looking at Saihara. Inside was Shuichi, laying on his bed, clutching his pillow, tear stains on his face and with his eyes glossy. Ouma looked at him sadly. Afterall Shuichi's sadness was his sadness as well.
He walked up and sat at the edge of the bed looking down at the boy with pity. He stroked Saihara's hair as the boy started to cry once more. "Hey, Saihara-chan... what's wrong?" he asked in a soothing voice. He didn't know how to handle crying people so he imagined what it was that he would want to hear. It wasn't a foolproof plan but he continued on with it. "N-Nothing..." he hiccuped not looking at Ouma as he cried.
"Stop lying you know that you're a terrible liar," Ouma spoke sternly but not harshly, after all, he wasn't the bad cop in an interrogation room. He was there to help. Shuichi stayed silent, bringing the pillow closer to his chest. "You know that you can talk to me about how shitty your parents are... that's something we can both agree on..." he said with a chuckle trying to convince Saihara to open up. He noticed that Saihara's breathing was uneven. "Take deep breaths... It's okay." He said. He saw the boy slowly calm down and smiled trying to reassure him.
"O-Okay..." Saihara stuttered now sniffling. He sat up but still refused to look Ouma in the eye. Ouma giggled. "So, what did that slut with a terrible dye job say to you?" he asked trying to get Saihara to smile. Shuichi held the pillow tighter making it impossible to know what he was saying. "I can't hear you with that pillow y'know." He said taking the pillow away from Shuichi's face. Shuichi took a deep breath before finally saying something.
"They arranged my marriage with a princess without my permission or knowledge."
Ouma covered his mouth in shock. His parents were forcing him to marry someone he didn't love? And it was a girl too? Saihara and him being BFFs have already discussed the topic of who they were attracted to and crushes they had. Ouma had always had a crush on his cell roommate while he was still on auction for people to buy. A green-haired boy by the name of Rantaro. And although Shuichi had never experienced many crushes on real people, he seemed to get crushes on book characters, most of which were boys. He later admitted to Ouma he was gay and that is why he didn't plan on marrying anyone since he knew his parents would only allow him to marry a girl.
"I'm supposed to get married to a girl I never met four weeks from now, Ouma..." he said, his voice cracking. Ouma shook his head, gritting his teeth. "Those bastards..." he muttered. It wasn't normal anger he usually felt for Saihara's parents. It was fury. However, he quickly noted Saihara's crying growing more intense. "I don't w-want to be married to s-someone I d-don't love Ouma-kun..." he sobbed out hugging him tightly. Ouma-kun just stroked Shuichi's hair trying to comfort him the best he could.
"I'm a-already in love with s-somebody..."
Ouma stiffened. Could it be? Could it be he wasn't lying that one day? No, don't be an idiot, Ouma. Of course, he doesn't love you! Afterall about two hours of torture everyone would be talking gibberish. Even so, he still found himself asking Saihara. "With who...?" he asked slowly pulling away from the hug. Saihara rubbed his eyes of tears, his sobs becoming quiet sniffles.
"With y-you..."
He said. "I-I know you don't l-love me...I m-mean...you haven't s-said a-anything about my confession and avoided it too..." he hiccuped as Ouma's eyes widened. "It's like you were t-trying to forget it e-ever happened. So o-obviously you don't like to me back..." Ouma quickly started shaking his head. "No! Saihara you dummy! You misunderstood!" he said cupping Saihara's cheeks and making him look straight in the eyes. "I...I thought that you were just talking trash! I thought that after two hours of beating you didn't know what you were saying!" he yelled out as Shuichi's eyes widened. "And even if you did mean it...think about the consequences! What would happen to you if you're parents found out! They'd disown you, or worse! They'd just lock you up or...or kill you! I can't risk that happening to you!" he yelled out. "Ouma..." Shuichi whispered as he saw tears well up in his eyes.
"Saihara...I do love you, I always have...for fuck's sake you're all that my world is. I would hate it if I lost you, so I didn't want to risk it..." he said quietly. "Ouma..."Shuichi quietly whispered. Unknowingly, both of them found themselves leaning in, hypnotized. Shuichi's shiny olive eyes and Ouma's sparkly amethyst ones. Ouma wrapped his arms around Shuichi's neck as Saihara's arms snaked their way around Ouma's waist. They were about to kiss when suddenly
BAM!
The door was forcibly opened by Kuro. Both Shuichi's and Ouma's faces went pale at the sight of Kirumi, Kuro and Saihara's parents standing in the door. Kuro grimaced in disgust, Kirumi's eyes widened and Saihara's father was fueled by fury. "So you can't stand the thought of kissing Princess Sonia but you can easily KISS THIS FIEND!?". His father stomped over grabbing Ouma by the hair as he hissed at the pain. "He is not a fiend! He's the love of my life!" Saihara screamed trying to pull Ouma away only to receive a slap in the face, enough to get him down on the ground.
"LOVE OF YOUR LIFE!? That's shameful and a disgrace to the Saihara name! Ouma must be punished!" Saihara's mother joined in. "P-Punished?" Ouma panicked as tears streamed down his cheeks. He knew what he would hear next...he just didn't want to believe it.
It is disgraceful for you to be around a member of my family and charm him! I should've known not to trust scum brought from the slums! It is a crime of the highest class.... which is why... we sentence you to death." Saihara's father's voice became cold and serious, his eyes glaring at the shaking purple-haired boy. Shuichi's eyes widened. "DEATH?!" he screamed out, completely outraged. "Kuro! Take him to the dungeon and lock him up." He said as Kuro nodded and grabbed the boy by the wrist and dragged him out of the room
"NO, I BEG YOU! HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO DIE! HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO BROUGHT ANY COLOR TO THIS HELLHOLE OF A LIFE, I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HIM AWAY!" he screamed and tried running over but Kirumi stopped him. "I'm sorry," she whispered sadly as Saihara's father turned to him.
"You Saihara, for the time being, will be locked in here. Ouma's execution will happen tomorrow morning and I don't want to risk you interfering." He said walking out of the room along with his wife as Shuichi struggled to get out of Kirumi's grasp. Kirumi quickly pushed him aside before sprinting out of the door and locking it before Saihara got the chance to collect himself. He quickly ran up to the door banging on the door as hard as he could. "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET. ME. OUT!" he screamed out as tears fell from his eyes. He heard Kirumi say a soft 'sorry' before walking away. Saihara fell to the ground sobbing and tugging at his hair.
"Please...I need you Ouma..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saihara sat by the door. It was already night but he had refused to fall asleep. He kept thinking about Ouma. He can't just let the love of his life die. His sadness quickly turned into rage as he stomped angrily, destroying everything in the room.
"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. I MOTHERFUCKING HATE! YOU!" he said as he suddenly heard the floorboard beneath him break down in half. He fell and quickly found himself in the guard's bedroom. It was empty so Saihara assumed it must be his shift. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. He slowly opened the door and looked outside to check to see whether or not there was anyone in the corridor. When he saw it empty he quickly ran for the stairs. He peeked out from the corner and noted the two guards standing in front of the staircase to the dungeon. There was, thankfully, no guards in the corridor in front of him which he was glad for. He huffed and looked for anything that could be used as a distraction. He noted the decorative vase standing next to the bottom of the staircase.
"Hmm..." he hummed as he picked up the vase and threw it as hard as he could down the corridor in front of him hoping the guards would go there. He heard as the guards quickly run to the source of the sound. As soon as they were far enough from the way to the dungeon and Shuichi was out of sight, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him and down the staircase. He made his way through the dungeon, noting the numerous poor souls that have been deemed 'guilty' by his parents despite the fact they weren't. Workers that didn't pay taxes, servants who weren't efficient enough, small pranksters with a low percentage being actual criminals.
He quickly noticed Ouma sharing a cell with another criminal, a lady with two long brown-haired ponytails. Shuichi remembered her trial. Maki Harukawa, a young 20-year-old woman. She attacked a guard after he was picking at some poor purple-haired peasant. She was sentenced two years in jail just because she kicked a guard where the sun don't shine....yeah quite a weird trial.
"Ouma-kun!" he whisper-yelled at the sight of the grape haired boy. "SAIHARA-CHAN!" Ouma's eyes widened as he quickly ran up to the door of the cell. "What are you doing here?!" he asked worried as he held onto the bars. "So your love is the royalty himself? Huh, now that's a crazy love story if I heard one..." she muttered not really paying attention. "I...I'm going to get you out of here" he said determined pulling at the padlock. "Are you crazy?! No, it's too dangerous! Just leave me here...forget and save yourself." Ouma panicked looking at Saihara but Shuichi shook his head. "I don't care, even if I had to die for you, I'll do anything to save you." he spoke determined. Ouma sighed. Saihara could be really stubborn if he set his mind on something.
The other prisoner sighed looking at Saihara coldly. "Look, buddy, I'll help you and your little shitty brat if you promise to let me out too. I've got an idiot out there waiting for me." Shuichi looked her in the eyes and nodded. Maki pulled out the small hairpin out of her hair. "Pick the lock then. The bars are too close to each other for me to open the lock myself but you might be able to do it." she said giving Saihara the pin. Saihara was about to pick the lock but heard the familiar sound of footsteps. He turned around panicked.
"Master Saihara?"
Kirumi stood there a tray of food in hand. She looked surprised but her face quickly turned into an annoyed one as she put two fingers to the bridge of her nose. She sighed. "Kirumi I can explain-" Shuichi panicked but Kirumi just shook her head looking at him seriously "Master Saihara...
If you want to pick a lock you do it differently."
Shuichi's eyes widened as the usually loyal and obedient maid proceeded to take the pin from his hand and pick the lock to the door. "Kirumom..." Ouma whispered in disbelief as Kirumi smiled at him. "I'll help you lovebirds escape, we don't have much time." she said quietly. "For now hide there. I'll give you a signal when to run." she pointed to a certain area. Everyone nodded and got into position. Kirumi headed up the stairs and moment later she returned with the two guards behind her. "I walked inside and saw that they were gone. I believe they might have escaped through the hole in their cell.
"Madam Kirumi, are you sure there's a hole? I don't see anything..." one of the guards commented. "Heh, no shit bud, it's pitch black in here!" the other guard spoke in an irritated voice. "Would you please inspect the cell? I doubt they escaped by breaking the lock seeing the door was closed when I came inside." she spoke in her reserved tone. She was a surprisingly good actress. "I'll bring some candles if you wish..." she said before turning and raising her hand up in the air. The signal. Maki, Ouma, and Shuichi quickly booked it for the exit. Kirumi walking out along with them.
"I'm afraid I have to part ways with you. There's an abandoned shack deep in the forest nearby. Stay safe and good luck." Kirumi spoke before hugging Shuichi and Ouma with a smile and walking off. The group ran for the castle's back exit, knowing it had lower security than the front door. "C'mon let's-" Ouma spoke as they were about to leave but was interrupted by a yell
"ESCAPISTS!"
They looked over. Goddamn Kuro. "Shit." Saihara yelled looking panicked. Maki stood in front of both of them pulling out a small pocket knife. "Okay, twerps, change of plans. I'll hold this nasty bastard off while you take your grape boyfriend outta here okay? Okay." she said. Shuichi quickly grabbed Ouma by the hand and started running. As they ran seemingly with no direction, they could still hear the faint sound of guards running after them. "Saihara, we shouldn't do this! Our punishment will be more severe if we resist!" Ouma yelled but Saihara didn't listen.
"If there's even a CHANCE we'll get out of here alive to live our dream, I'm gonna take it." Saihara said. Ouma just nodded as they continued to run entering the deep forest and taking sharp turns in hopes of confusing the guards. The pain in their legs was almost unbearable, but they knew that if they stopped now, all would be for nothing.
After a while of running the two of them eventually lost the guards. They sighed. "You saved me..." Ouma whispered looking Shuichi in the eyes. "You told me you had to protect me because it was your duty as my servant... but now you're the love of my life and it's my duty to keep you safe with me forever..." Shuichi spoke softly causing Ouma to blush. "Now we need to find the shelter Kirumi was talking about. Seeing as she said it was abandoned, nobody will find us there." he looked at Ouma as he nodded.
They were now both now walking through the dark woods trying their best to find a shelter to spend the cold night. As they walked, Ouma felt conflicted. He felt so...useless. Shuichi was doing everything while he was the prince! What's the point of a servant if the royalty has to do everything himself?' is what Kirumi used to tell him when he was just settling at the palace. He needs to redeem himself. But how? So far Shuichi has taken the beating for him, stood up to his parents for him and then threw away his entire life as royalty to a powerful kingdom just for him! To pay him back? What could he possibly do?!
After a few hours of looking for shelter, they stumbled across a wooden shack. "It's nothing spectacular but it's better than nothing, right?" Saihara said trying his best to sound optimistic. Despite the tragic circumstances, they found themselves in he tried to find even a little bit of positivity.
Ouma nodded as they both entered the shack. It had a dusty old bed, a little kitchen and a potbelly stove in the corner. The shack was covered from head toe in spiderwebs and had a hole in the roof, the moonlight shining through. Shuichi locked the door and they both sat down on the bed. "We should probably make a fire, we don't want to freeze," Shuichi said. In reality, he didn't care if he got sick. All that mattered to him was Ouma.
The cracked, unlucky boy who suffered hell that sparked up his world like a crocus in the snow. His smile and happiness were enough to make running away worth it. Maybe it was the joy he expressed even at the smallest of things was what made Shuichi fall in love with him? Or was it his charming looks and enigmatic personality? Did it even matter? Shuichi adored him and loved him for everything he was and that was it.
"If there's a stove like this, there should be a lighter. I'll look in the kitchen" he said walking off. Meanwhile, Ouma looked down on the ground thoughtful. Saihara is so selfless. He gives and gives and gives and never expects to be given anything back. It's not fair. Ouma thought hard. What could he possibly offer Saihara, a prince who had everything handed to him since he was born? His cheeks turned a red hue as he thought more about Shuichi. They haven't really discussed what they were since they ran away. Not that they had much time to do that. They ALMOST kissed that was true, but did Shuichi feel the same? Did he love him in 'that' way?
"Well, there is a lighter but it doesn't seem to be working," Shuichi said showing the small lighter with Hiroko written on the side of it. "Did you check if there's any fuel?" Ouma asked to which Saihara facepalmed himself for not doing so in the first place. "Now I have aaaand...empty," he said sadly. "We'll just have to grab a blanket." He said walking up to the bed, grabbing the little fabric that was rolled up and lying on the end of the bed. A checkered blanket...just like Ouma's scarf. He smiled as he handed it to Ouma.
"Have it...I'll be fine," Shuichi said with a small smile. Ouma took it, gripping tightly as Shuichi sat next to him. He still thinking deeply about what he could do. He could offer him...that...N-No that's embarrassing besides he can't just hand it out like flyers for a movie. You're meant to do it with someone special. But then again they almost did it...and who could be more special to Ouma than Shuichi?!
"Hey, Ouma aren't you cold?" Shuichi asked looking over at Ouma who was still gripping at the fabric, not really doing anything. He was looking at the ground, completely silent. "Hey Shuichi ....you're so selfless you know that? You never expect anything to be given back for your generosity" Ouma spoke quietly "You even threw your life away to be with me!" he yelled out, Shuichi looked at Ouma concerned. "Yeah...? What are you getting at?" Shuichi asked. Before he even had the chance he felt Ouma kiss him. It was a gentle kiss and lasted for a few seconds before Ouma pulled away looking him in the eyes.
"I felt as though I haven't been nice enough to you. I've never repaid you for your kindness. I wanted to give something back but I have nothing of material worth to offer. So the only thing I thought of giving you...is my first kiss" he said in a whisper. "Ouma-kun..." he blushed and stayed quiet only adding to Ouma's anxiety. Ouma started to pull on his hair worried that he somehow offended Shuichi. "I'm sorry if you didn't I just thought I-" he started to stutter but was stopped when Shuichi cupped Ouma's cheeks and looked him in the eyes.
"Can I... kiss you again?"
"Oh... yeah." Ouma said as Shuichi slowly leaned in to kiss Ouma. As soon as their lips touched it was like a spark of electricity. The same warm feeling they had felt during their first moment was back and they were hypnotized. The kiss started off gentle and innocent, but both of them knew that they craved more contact. Saihara bit down lightly on Ouma's bottom lip before slipping his tongue in Ouma's mouth. Soon enough Shuichi found himself climbing on top of the boy pushing him to the bed. Ouma wrapped his hands around Saihara's neck, gripping at the fabric of his shirt. Both of their minds were going on autopilot. Eventually, they pulled away, panting and a small string of saliva connecting their lips. "Is it wrong...if I want more?" Ouma asked in a breathy voice. Saihara shook his head as he unbuttoned Ouma's shirt exposing his pale chest.
Shuichi moved down and started kissing and sucking on Ouma's neck. "Mngh~" Ouma let out a soft moan when he felt Shuichi bite light on his neck. He pouted when Saihara pulled away. Ouma wanted more, he craved more physical contact and he Saihara wanted it to. He watched Saihara look at him with concern in his eyes. "Hey before this goes any further...are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. Ouma chuckled "You took my first kiss...so you might as well take my virginity." he smirked at the sight of the blue-haired boy blushing "How bold..." Saihara pouted. "Go on already..." Ouma said in a seductive voice causing Saihara to react on impulse. "Heh, where did this confidence come from~?" he chuckled at Saihara who just smirked. "With a seductive voice like that, you sound like you're basically begging for it" Ouma blushed and looked away. "Meanie..." he said to which Shuichi just chuckled and started to advance...
...
...
...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shuichi woke up in the morning to the sight of the shack. He sighed. 'I really did it, didn't I...not that I regret it I'm just surprised...I thought that we would've gotten caught...' he thought to himself. He looked around. Ouma was gone. For a moment he felt himself panic but he quickly recovered when he saw the boy standing in the door to the other room. He was holding a bowl and a mug taken from the kitchen. "Hello my dear Saihara-chan!" he came over with a smile and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Hi, Ouma-kun. What's that in your hands?" he looked over at the bowl which was filled with freshly picked raspberries and a mug of water. "Oh well...I prepared breakfast well out of the little things we can get. Which literally means I just warmed up river water and picked berries from bushes cause there was nothing snack like in the kitchen." he said chuckling. Shuichi smiled. "Ouma you don't have to make me breakfast, I'm not a prince giving out orders anymore." he laughed but Ouma shook his head with a smile.
"But you're my partner, aren't you?" he asked sweetly. Shuichi looked at Ouma confused wishing him to explain. "I'm your boyfriend and I want to see you smile at me like this every single day. So I want to do these things to keep you like this forever...happy." Ouma said before kissing Shuichi on the cheek. Shuichi laughed. "Since when were you so cheesy?" he asked as Ouma smiled. "Since you fell for me. But no time for chit chat. How about you get dressed and we go for a short walk?" he asked as Shuichi nodded.
That day, Ouma and Saihara both decided to live in the shack and start over. It was far enough from the castle so they probably won't get caught by anyone. And the plan worked. They both spent their days, going on walks and enjoying each other's company. Sure, it was hard to get by but they both tried to figure out a way to live. Kirumi helped them from time to time, occasionally visiting them with supplies such as food, clothes or even mild distractions such as board games. Life seemed to be going well for them.
For a short while, that is.
During one of their walks, Ouma-kun and Shuichi spoke about various things. Sadly their happiness was short-lived.
"Stop right there!"
They quickly spotted a guard from the castle glaring at them. They instantly ran back to the cabin, hearing more footsteps. It was a swarm of guards. How unlucky. They both ran for the cabin as fast as they could. There was no thought process, just running. Pure running. As soon as they were inside Shuichi locked the door. "O-Ouma! H-help me block the door!" he yelled trying to push the bookcase that was standing by the wall, in front of the door. Ouma nodded and helped block the door. Even though, he could hear the guards quickly approaching like a swarm of angry hornets.
"Oh god...oh god they found us." Ouma started biting at his nails worried. There was no way to run, no way to escape. They were trapped and outside were people yelling for them to surrender, people who were looking to kill them for treason. "Damn it..." Saihara whispered as he tried to think of a solution, an escape of some sorts. And here he thought that life would be better. That he would get to live freely with the one person who was able to brighten his world which was full of restrictions, violence, and apathy. "Can we run away?" Ouma asked, his eyes showing obvious dread.
"It's two against about twenty...we won't be able to run from them..." Saihara sounded defeated. Ouma's eyes widened before they grew sad and despaired. "I knew this would happen, they always won they always will! I will never escape them! ...Our only option is for us to turn in." Saihara yelled out frustrated. Ouma put a finger to his lips before finally speaking.
"What about...the last resort?"
"Last...resort...?" Shuichi asked confused. "While you were asleep one day I looked through the shack, this cabin clearly belonged to a hunter and you know what that means..." Ouma said quietly. "You mean there's gu-" Shuichi was cut off when he nodded his head. "Are you sure there's no other way...?" Shuichi asked nervously as he looked at Ouma. Ouma sighed and looked at the ground sadly. "None that I can see...I'm not exactly happy about that either, I wish I could've been your boyfriend for longer because either way, we're gonna die..." he said grimly. The sound of banging on the door was making them even more anxious.
"So I guess we have no choice...but...it's better than letting those asshole parents win ain't it?" Ouma said to which Shuichi nodded. Ouma sighed and went over to a small box in the corner pulling out two guns. He handed one to Saihara, his hands trembling and eyes watering. He turned off the safety and Saihara did the same.
"A-Are you scared?" Shuichi asked quickly noticing the tears in Ouma's eyes but Ouma just laughed and grinned. "It's okay, nothing is scary when I'm with you..." Ouma said in a reassuring tone yet his body still shook. "Same here." Shuichi smiled and pointed the gun at Ouma to which in response Ouma pointed a gun at Saihara.
"So I guess this is the end..." Saihara said with a chuckle. "Hey...before we die... I just want you to know I love you and... I'm glad I got to be your boyfriend" Ouma said with genuine happiness in his voice. "That's sweet... maybe in our next life will be lucky enough to be together?" Shuichi asked as he started crying. "Yeah...let's hope so." Ouma said as tears fell from his eyes without even realizing it. Shuichi lowered the gun for a moment and leaned in instead, kissing Ouma on the lips. Ouma blushed but kissed back. They pulled away and raised the guns back at each other. "So... shall we count?" Shuichi asked to which Ouma nodded "Yeah let's get it over with..."
1
2
3
BAM!
And with that everything went black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kokichi walked through the library, trying to find the book his English teacher assigned the whole class to read. He really had to get out of the library and out of school as soon as he could, before his bullies could get to him. According to the school hierarchy, he was pretty low ranked. It was probably because of his continuous pranks. Sadly this has earned him and a bad reputation in front of everyone and made everyone in the entire school hate him.
He sighed. 'Just find the book Kokichi... and get out before Kaito finds you...' he thought to himself as he looked through the fantasy section. How weird that a teacher was still assigning them to read cheap medieval love stories right? Oh well, have to suck it up I guess. He quickly noticed it at the top shelf and tried to reach for the book, but of course...it was too high to reach. And there was no way for him to reach him. 'It's in moments like these that I hate being short...' he said still trying to reach the book. He then saw someone else grab it right before his eyes."
"H-Hey-!" he cut himself off when he saw the stranger hand him the book. It wasn't the librarian Helen, but one of his classmates, Shuichi. "Hi Kokichi, uhh... here." he said awkwardly handing Kokichi the book. "I saw you were having problems reaching it, you know you can always ask someone for help right?" he said softly as Kokichi blushed. He quickly recovered "Well ain't this a surprise~ Shuichi's helping me! And here I thought that Kaito's opinion of me was rubbing off on you..." he said in his cheeky tone while Shuichi just looked at him confused.
"What do you mean...?" Shuichi asked to which Kokichi just laughed. "If Kaito saw you struggling he'd help you, but if he saw me struggling that moron would DEFINITELY walk away and pretend he never saw me! Then again I can't really blame him though, who'd want to help a guy with such a low reputation!" Kokichi giggled to which Shuichi frowned at him.
"If you wish to help someone, status doesn't matter. I helped you because you're my friend..."
Kokichi felt something then. A strange nostalgic feeling, he wasn't quite sure he understood. Sort of like deja vu? But how could that be? They had barely ever interacted with each other, so why did this feel like a long-forgotten memory? Before he had a chance to ponder any longer he was snapped out of his thoughts by Shuichi.
"Well I have to get home now, but I'll see you around Kokichi!" he said sweetly before walking out of the library. "See...you...around. "Kokichi waved still slightly confused as Shuichi walked away. Why did that line sound so familiar to him?
"Weird..."
( A/N: Yeah and with that, this oneshot ends. Now I'm doing a sort of a new pattern with one-shots. I have a few long drafts with about 5000+ words in and while I work on finishing them I deal with requests and one-shots that take a little over 2000 words! But since 5000+ take a long time, I'll just ask you guys which one of these long drafts takes priority using a poll
A) Maid!Kokichi x Shuichi a.k.a the bitch Kaede's return
B) Amnesia AU: Kokichi and Shuichi both get in an 'accident' and get amnesia, forgetting they're together
Also if you want to request a one-shot pm me and tell me your ideas! I'll be happy to listen to them :)
That's all bye~ - Author-chan)