The Little Prince [Chapter 2]
Title: The Little Prince
Author: Masuhisa
Pairing: Matsumiya, Sakumiya, Aimiya, Ohmiya
Summary: Yamada Taro is the son of an extremely poor couple, and has to work extremely hard to feed his family. But everything changes when his parents admit that he was adopted, and his real family finally found him after 18 years.
Disclaimer: Don’t own.
Chapter 2:
His packed bag in hand, Taro walked out of his room, trying to recall the path he had took to reach there. He came to a fork in his path not too long later and paused. Had he turned left or right? He wasn’t too sure. After all, he was half in a daze when Nishida brought him to his room.
Trying his luck, Taro took the left route and continued down the seemingly endless corridor. His bag was starting to feel heavier with each step he took. Before he even reached the outside of the castle, his hand was aching from carrying his bag, and his feet were starting to feel rather worn out.
Without any choice, Taro found a random couch nearby and took a short rest. His five minute rest time doubled to ten as Taro found his eye lids turning to lead. Even though his bed had been very comfy, he wasn’t used to it at all and thus he couldn’t sleep a wink the night before. By the end of fifteen minutes, Taro was already fast asleep, head snuggled contentedly into the cushions.
Sleeping, Taro was oblivious to the world around him, including footsteps coming his way. Satoshi walked through the corridors, bored to death. He didn’t have anything better to do - no inspiration for painting, the boats are under servicing so he can’t go fishing. He sighed.
Just then, he spotted something on his favourite random couch in the corridor. He took a step closer. Sleeping rather peacefully on it was someone Satoshi hadn’t seen before, but judging from his resemblance to the late Master Kazushi, Satoshi figured it was the Ninomiya family’s long lost Ninomiya Kazunari.
“So he really is cute,” thought Satoshi to himself, taking a step closer to the sleeping figure. Gently, he reached out to touch his cheek, wondering if it felt as soft as it looks. It did. One touch was all it took to send an electric shock throughout his entire body.
“Lucky Jun,” thought Satoshi to himself, pouting slightly. He couldn’t figure out why Kazunari was sleeping on that couch when he had a whole room to himself, but one thing he did know was that Kazunari looked so adorable when he’s sleeping. Not wanting to wake him up, Satoshi started to retreat.
He was about to tip-toe away when he heard a sneeze coming in the direction of the couch. He turned, and saw that Kazunari was snuggling even closer to the couch in his sleep in an attempt to get warm. Without thinking, Satoshi slid his jacket off, went over to the couch and covered the sleeping figure.
He took a step back. Oh how he wanted to just snuggle up with Kazunari and sleep, but Satoshi knew that wasn’t his place. Sadly, he turned around and walked off.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Taro hurried down the corridor, cursing himself for falling asleep. He had wasted half an hour napping when he could have been escaping from his hell of a place. Taro tried not to think about it, but he could not help but wonder why he had a black jacket, which was obviously not his, draped over his shoulders when he woke up.
Figuring that it wasn’t important, he hurried along. Soon enough, he saw a door, and through the glass in it, Taro could tell that it led outside. His energy level shooting sky high as he realized he was closer to freedom, Taro charged towards the door.
Sure enough, it led him outside. Taro found himself surrounded by bushes after bushes and figured that he must be in the garden. He didn’t have time to admire the great scenery as his desperateness to leave the place heightened. Trusting his intuition, he headed straight.
After god knows how many steps, he came across a great pavilion where he spotted somebody. Thanking his lucky stars, Taro run over to that person, hoping to get some directions.
Taro must have been down on his luck that day, for that person, was none other than that irritating Matsumoto Jun who Taro found extremely loathsome.
“Oh, look who it is! It’s the fake little prince,” said Jun sarcastically when he noticed Taro’s presence, “I see you’re leaving already,” he added, seeing the bag in Taro’s hands, “I would really love to check it for any stolen items, but I don’t want to dirty my hands,”
Taro’s jaws dropped at Jun’s insult. He really, really wanted to throw something at that annoying guy. His eyes darted around, trying to find something that he could use to throw at Jun, but all he saw was Nishida marching up to him with a whole swarm of security guards behind him.
“Young master,” greeted Nishida, “It’s rather hot today, why don’t you head back to the castle,”
Taro wasn’t stupid. He knew that Nishida was trying to prevent him from leaving, “I’m not going back there,” he said defiantly.
“Young master, Lord Ninomiya is waiting to have breakfast with you,” said Nishida, gesturing to the castle.
“I said I’m not going back!”
With a swift turn on his heels, Taro sped off in whatever direction his feet chose to take. Taro didn’t know he could run at that speed he was currently running at. But that’s what happens when you have a butler and sea of security guards chasing you.
Thankfully, Taro came to main entrance of the castle where he was brought in the day before. Gleefully, he followed the road, knowing that he’ll take him to the gates surrounding the castle.
“Young master, please stop!” cried Nishida not too far behind him. The butler may be old, but he could sure run. Seconds later, he and his troop were right behind Taro.
Taro thought that was the end of him, but suddenly, a bright red spots car came charging his way. Taro thought it was going to run into him, and halted in fear. But, the sports car swerved when it was nearing him and turned back so that it formed a barricade between him and Nishida and gang.
Taro turned around out of curiosity, just in time to see the driver step out of the car.
“Mimura?!” uttered Taro in disbelief.
His friend gave him a grin and walk up to him, “Taro, no, Kazunari,” he began, “I’m not really Mimura Takuya. It’s complicated so I’ll explain later. Right now, get in,”
Taro’s eyes widen in shock. Mimura was in it too? He was starting to doubt his supposed friend, but seeing that he offered him a ride, Taro gratefully accepted it despite his growing distrust.
“Master Sho, what are you doing?” asked Nishida from the other side of the car.
“Don’t worry,” smiled Mimura…or was his real name Sho? “I’ll explain to Lord Ninomiya later,”
He gave Nishida a smile before following Taro into the car. With a roar of the engine, the bright red sports car raced away from the castle. Once they got through the gates, Taro felt a smile of relief creep onto his face.
“So you’re trying to run away, aren’t you,” asked Mimura, no, Sho.
Taro nodded, “Who are you really?” he asked, extremely confused.
“My real name in Sakurai Sho,” he began, “A few years back, Lord Ninomiya received information that someone who looked a lot like his son was studying at Ichinomiya High School. But his sources weren’t too sure if it was really his long lost grandson, so he sent me to do some undercover work. That was why I pretended to be Mimura Takuya,”
Taro nodded to himself.
“You don’t believe that you’re part of the rich and famous Ninomiya family, right?” asked Sho.
Taro nodded the third time.
“All I can say is that Lord Ninomiya won’t go to such trouble to bring you all the way back to his castle if he weren’t certain,”
Taro bit his lips. That means that the possibility of everything being a huge misunderstanding was slim. Even if it was, his supposed mother admitted that he wasn’t really her son. So that means that even if he wasn’t a Ninomiya, he wouldn’t be a Yamada either. He rubbed his aching head.
“We’re here,” announced Sho. He and Taro got out from the sports car and made their way down the small dusty lane which led to his house.
Taro thought of giving his family a surprise, but when he slid the door open, he was the one who was surprised.
“An-chan!” cried a chorus of voices.
His siblings rushed up to him and hugged him around the waist, “An-chan, look!”
Taro was looking. Looking with much disbelief. All six of his siblings were dressed in the prestigious Season Primary School uniform, the school which children of the rich and famous attended. The school fee had so many numbers that it made Taro dizzy.
“What’s going on?” asked Taro.
“It’s a present from Lord Ninomiya,” said a gentle voice which Taro knew belonged to his supposed mother, “it’s for thanking us for taking care of you all these years,”
“An-chan, we’re moving to a new house next week,” cried Saburo excitedly.
“And that new house is so cool!” added Jiro.
“Our new school is very fun too,” Yoshiko fought to get a word in.
“Yeah, there are lots of nice people there,” Itsuko put in.
Taro felt to his ground. He wanted to reverse time. He wanted to go back to the time when none of this happened. He didn’t want to be the grandson of a rich man. He wouldn’t mind working part-times. He just wanted everything to go back to normal.
“Kazunari,” said Sho gently, placing a comforting arm around his shoulders.
Taro clenched his fist, “Why?” he asked nobody in particular. His siblings and his mother continued dancing around the room in delight, talking animatedly about their new school and their new house.
“I think it’s time we went back to the Ninomiya Mansion,” said Sho gently, lifting him off the floor. The pair then left the Yamada household. With a heavy heart, Taro followed Sho back to his car.
On the way back, Taro could not help but think about the smiles on his mother and his siblings’ faces. That was the first time he saw them smile so brightly, no doubt that it was because of their new school and house. Taro didn’t even need to see the house to know that it must cost a fortune.
He didn’t know what to do next. He wanted them to be happy, but the only reason they could was because of the presents given to them by his grandfather. If he were to leave the Ninomiya family, he would have to return the gifts as well. Who knows how much all those cost?
That just means that for the sake of his family’s happiness, he’d just have to remain at that horrible place.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Taro wiped a towel through his hair once more to make sure that it’s the driest possible before hanging it up. He then pulled a shirt over his head and stepped out of his bathroom.
Stretching, Taro let out a yawn. It had been an extremely long day for him of talking to his grandfather about the first eighteen years of his life, and then a tour of the mansion. Just walking throughout the place made Taro tired. He was going to be introduced to the four selected successors the next day and he was supposed to spend the entire day with them. So Taro had better get some sleep.
Taro was planning to jump onto his bed when he noticed that there was a huge lump under the comforters. Fearing the worst, Taro approached it carefully. With a trembling hand, he reached for the corners and pulled the comforter.
“Eh?!” cried Taro in shock. Sleeping on his bed, cuddling his pillow was a honey-haired man that Taro did not recognised. His cry must have woken the sleeping man for he jolted up.
“Kazunari!” he exclaimed the moment he laid eyes on Taro. In the blink of an eye, he jumped up and somehow managed to corner Taro against the wall, “you really look a lot like Master Kazushi,”
“Who are you?” Taro managed to choke out, “why are you sleeping on my bed?”
“Oh, whoops, I forgot. I’m Aiba Masaki! I was waiting for you to come out from the bathroom, but I guess I fell asleep,” said the taller man sheepishly, “You’re really, really cute, you know that? I just feel like hugging you!”
To say that Taro was frightened would be an understatement. He was terrified. Who wouldn’t if some random stranger appears on your bed and then pounces on you saying he wants to hug you?
Taro ducked under his attacker’s arm and fled. On his way out, Taro pressed the bright red button concealed behind the door which he was told to press if there was an emergency.
While running away from that crazy man, Taro heard alarms going off and red lights flashing all over the place.
“Young master,”
“Nishida! There’s this retard who attacked me in my room!” Taro spluttered the moment he ran into Nishida. Before Nishida could ask him anything, that honey-haired man came thundering down the corridor after him.
“Kazunari! Wait! I didn’t mean to!” he yelled.
“Is this the retard you’re talking about, young master?” asked Nishida, pressing a button on the remote control in his hands.
Taro nodded, hiding behind Nishida’s back. He heard Nishida sigh and shook his head.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“What is the meaning of this?” bellowed Lord Ninomiya at Masaki.
“I just wanted to meet Kazunari,” whimpered the cowering man, “I didn’t mean to attack him or anything,”
“Masaki, you do know that you’ll be meeting my Kazunari tomorrow, why can’t you wait?” asked the old man, his voice full of annoyance at the tall man.
“I couldn’t wait another day to see him,” pouted Masaki.
“Ojii-chan,” Taro cut in before his grandfather could kill the honey-haired man, “It’s okay. I wasn’t hurt or anything, so please let Masaki off,”
Lord Ninomiya nodded, “I don’t want anything like this happening every again, you hear me?”
“Yes, sir!” cried Masaki, glad that he wasn’t going to be murdered or anything.
“Jun,” he said, addressing the man in the corner, “from tomorrow onwards, you’ll move to the room opposite Kazunari’s. You’d be in charge of protecting him and teaching him all that he needs to learn,”
“Huh? What do I need to learn?” asked Taro in surprise.
“A lot of things! Ball room dancing, waltz, etiquette, I’m throwing a party to formally introduce you to the world, so if you don’t know all these by then, it would be very embarrassing, wouldn’t it? Get some rest,”
Lord Ninomiya got up from the sofa and exited Taro’s room, but not before making sure that Masaki left the room as well. The only two people left in the room were Taro and Jun.
“You people seriously amaze me,” started Jun, shaking his head, “how could you not tell the different between one of the chosen successors and a rapist?”
Taro’s jaws dropped, “How was I supposed to know?!” he yelled back at Jun, “He did attack me!”
Jun only continued shaking his head while looking at Taro in an extremely disgusted way.
“Don’t look at me like that,” frowned Taro, looking away to avoid eye contact with Jun, “it’s not like I want you to move to the room opposite mine,”
“People like you are all the same, it can’t be helped,” sighed Jun, getting ready to leave as well.
“What was that supposed to mean?” demanded Taro. His hands automatically went for a ceramic vase on the coffee table. That morning, he didn’t have the chance to hit Jun with something, so he was going to do it now. He didn’t care how much that vase cost.
Putting all of his anger and hatred towards Jun into that vase, Taro flung it across the room. Unfortunately, Jun had good reflexes and managed to dodge the flying object. Even though he managed to avoid being hit, Jun’s heart was still pounding at the near miss. If Kazunari was bold enough to throw an expensive vase at him, it means that he really hated him. Thinking that he had thrown enough insults at the shorter man, Jun walked off, leaving behind a fuming Taro.
His nose flaring, Taro stomped off to bed. If the last successor was as crazy as the other two, Taro was certain he didn’t want to meet him. Hoping that he last one would be as nice as Sho, Taro slipped under the covers. This new life of his was draining, and all Taro wanted was to drift off and completely forget about everything that had happened.