(no subject)
Title: Kaidoh and the Seven Tennis Players: A Tenipuri Snow White
Author: rubyautumn
Rating: PG (for now)
Pairings: KaidohxMomo, TezukaxFuji, various others
Summary: Kaidoh is a young man who was found, adopted, and raised by seven men living in the woods in the Kingdom of Seigaku. For eighteen years Kaidoh has lived with them, growing up healthy and happy. All of that changes when he accidentally 'steals' the horses of Prince Momoshiro of the Kingdom of Hyotei! The resulting meeting clears up the mysteries of Kaidoh's past, as well as throwing Kaidoh onto an emotional roller coaster. However, there are some that do not want Kaidoh's existence to be found out, and will do anything to keep Kaidoh as little more than a children's bedtime story.
Here is where you can read [Chapter 1]
Momoshiro once asked himself how things could get much worse as he and his squire, Dan, tromped through the thick wood they somehow managed to get themselves lost in. His arse ached from being in the saddle for so long! He did not care if his father, King Atobe of Hyotei, had poured out money from his coffers to buy his son the best cross-country saddle there was - his butt freaking hurt! The bottom of his pelvis ground painfully into the saddle as his gigantic lout of a stead - Duncan - picked his clumsy way through the underbrush, jolting him every time the gelding paused to nibble something or listen as a woodland creature ran deeper into the surrounding area.
He looked back to see how his squire fared, feeling just a bit responsible for putting the poor young man in his current position. He’d done his best to acquire a suitable mount for Dan, but the boy was just so tiny! Clearly he was shorter than most children his age, so buying him a Shitenhouji Trotter (horses famed for their smooth, energy efficient, non-movement wasting trot, bred by the famous Kuranosuke family) was out of the question since the shortest height any of that bred ever recorded had been seventeen point five hands. He had to settle for a smooth endurance type from the country of Higa called a Tomoya. They were small, slender, and looked like they could be snapped in half like a twig, but could walk or trot from hours and never tire. Dan insisted on using his own tack, which was normal, short ride city tack. Momoshiro pitied his poor squire and was sure Dan would be nursing far more saddle sores than him when they stopped for the night.
“Your Highness, not to be rude, but are you sure we are going the correct way, desu?” Dan asked from behind Momoshiro.
Momo’s eyebrow twitched. To be quite honest they were helplessly lost. But never in this lifetime was he going to admit to his own squire he had gotten them lost when they were barely three days from reaching the capital of Seigaku!
“No! Of course we’re not lost!” he bluffed. “We’re taking the scenic route!” He looked around him, squeezing his thighs around Duncan’s sides as the horse attempted to stop and nibble another bush. Duncan snorted and kept going, turning his head and giving Momo a peeved look.
“Ah, I see, desu!” Dan replied.
Momo felt slightly guilty as he heard the complete and utter faith in Dan’s reply. Why did the boy have to idolize him so? Sure he was the Crown Prince, Eldest Son of King Atobe, Heir-Apparent, but to be honest he hated that roll. He performed it well enough, but he knew his father was aware he half-assed it most of the time. While it was true Momoshiro enjoyed being powerful (he was the second strongest man in the kingdom, next to his father of course), he honestly didn’t desire to be put on the throne. Being powerful and wielding that power for someone other than yourself was totally different that being powerful and luxuriating in that knowledge. He often went to bed after days spent in court wondering how in the world he was supposed to do what his father did. He just wasn’t King material! He’d much rather stay a Prince and serve under his little brother Ryoma instead.
But no matter how powerful he was physically, mentally he just couldn’t bring himself to tell his father he wished to abdicate. He knew how that conversation would go over. For his father, being king and having the family remain in power was everything. Atobe was a man of infinite grace and charisma, able to take a discouraged, heart broken crowd and turn them into a zealous mob within an hour. He commanded respect from all his soldiers and his people, and more than that, Atobe was a hurricane force of destruction in and of himself. Set his father on a battlefield and he could wipe out a third of the army if he really tried - all on his own too! Telling such a man that his own son was a weakling that did not desire the same things as he would go over like a sack full of bricks (and Momoshiro did not know how to swim very well at all).
Thus he found himself lost in a forest, no idea where in the hell he was going, praying to God that they found a clearing soon so they could rest, or maybe a main road. He wondered why it was even necessary for him to go to Seigaku. From the current reports, both Seigaku and Hyotei had clear control of the lands on the eastern half of the continent. He knew there had been some border skirmishes, but none had ever sparked a full scale war. Still, that was why he was being forced to go to Seigaku as he pondered that thought. He was going both as an emissary of his people, and also to propose an alliance marriage to King Tezuka. Everyone knew that the king had no children of his own, and thus his line would not inherit, but a cousin of his was next, a man called Lord Tachibana. It was to him and King Tezuka that Momoshiro now rode to see, all in hopes of securing a marriage with Lord Tachibana’s sister, the Lady Tachibana Anne. Momoshiro had never seen or met her, but should they marry it would bring about peace for both countries since it would be a match between two ruling figures. He could only hope she was decent, both in her physical form and her mentality.
“My prince, look, desu!” Dan squeaked.
Momoshiro came out of his thoughts, blinking rapidly to readjust his vision to the sun-pocked light of the forest. Dan was situated behind him, so ‘look’ didn’t mean too much. Still, as he scanned the forest he found what he thought Dan meant. He spotted a small deer trail through a pack of bushes, and through the trees and shrubs he could make out a large patch of sunlight, which meant a clearing. Finally!
“This way!” Momoshiro called to Dan, urging Duncan towards the trail.
The clearing itself was small, but that was fine. Gingerly, Momo slid from Duncan’s back, grateful that none by Dan was there to see his less than graceful dismount. He dropped the reins over Duncan’s head and lopped them loosely back through a ring in the horse’s martingale so the beast would not trip, and slipped on Duncan’s travel halter, tying the lead rope to a tree branch. His squire followed suit, and both animals seemed more than content to stop their endless plodding and graze off the sweet forest grass beneath their hooves.
“Alright, Dan, you go and find some wood for a fire,” Momoshiro instructed. “I thought I heard a river nearby, so I’ll go see if I can’t find it for some fresh water.” He and his squire both had a goodly water supply, but fresh water and stale water were two different things, and he’d much rather have fresh than stale.
Dan saluted, “Yes sir!” He bowed quickly and made his way into the brush.
“Don’t go to far! Be back before it’s to dark!” Momoshiro called.
Dan’s head appeared from behind the clearing’s ring of bushes, little cheeks flushed. “As you say, Your Highness, desu!” he beamed and vanished once more.
Momoshiro shook his head, a smile tweaking his lips as he turned to the horses. He patted Duncan’s rich roan flank. “Stay here while I’m gone, k?” he asked, though both beasts ignored him in favor of the grass.
He checked to make sure his boot knife was secure and he had an undamaged water skin before heading back out into the woods. For once he had not bluffed when he said he heard a river. He really had. The noise was faint, but unmistakable. He paused for a moment, closing his eyes and letting the world sort of fade. The sounds of the wood flooded senses - squirrels arguing, birds singing their love songs, rabbits sniffing, the soft velvet sigh of a river as it carved its way through the earth.
He opened his eyes and headed to his right at an angle, heading for the sigh that turned into a gurgle as he neared the river. He pushed out from the bushes, face lighting up as he set eyes on the clear stream before him. It was so clear and pure you could see the riverbed clearly, rocks as round as marbles glittering on the riverbed, the river’s shores the color of chocolate.
Carefully he knelt, cupping his hands in the deliciously frigid waters. Greedily he drank, able to feel the cold liquid glide down his throat and settle in his stomach. Once he had his fill, he dipped the skin in the river, filling it as much as he could. Thankfully the skin was made of leather and pig’s gut, which meant it could stretch a great deal and hold more. He took a few extra moments to splash his face and hands, getting the dirt and grime of the road and wood off himself. He peered at his reflection, somewhat broken as the stream whistled past. Satisfied that by the time they reached the capital he would be somewhat presentable even with road dust, he rose and headed back the way he came.
Going back took him longer than going, mostly because he often had to pause and realign himself with the various little landmarks he used to make it to the stream in the first place. He finally spotted the great wash of sunlight that denoted the clearing and pushed forward eagerly, his prize of sparkling, icy water sloshing merrily at his hip. He squirmed past the last of the bushes, only to fall back in them as his squire tackled him.
“Dan!” he blustered. “Dan, what the hell was that for?” It wasn’t very princely language, but at this point he didn’t care.
“I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, desu!” the little squire blubbered into the vicinity of Momo’s belly.
“Sorry? Sorry for what?” Momo asked, trying to get Dan to lift his head so he could better understand his sniffling squire.
Dan let out a wail and pointed to where the horses should been. Instead, all that was on the ground were a pair of soft silk and leather travel halters. “Duncan and-and Akutsu are gone!” he wailed. “I’m so sorry! I came back from getting firewood like you said and they weren’t here!”
Momo cursed under his breath, managing to wriggle out from beneath his weeping squire. He went over to the halters, picking up the larger of the two. The silver buckle seemed to be functioning properly, still neatly buckled, as it was when he had put it on Duncan. However, on the other side, one of the knots that made up the travel halter had come undone. He growled and threw the useless piece of tack down, turning instead to inspect the halter that should have held Dan’s horse, Akutsu, in place. He picked it up and glared at the thing. To his eyes it looked a little to big for Akutsu’s rather refined head, so slipping out would be an easy thing, especially if he wanted to follow Duncan when Duncan got loose.
He grunted and pushed to his feet, throwing the useless halter on the ground with Duncan’s. He turned to Dan, who was still sniffling, clearing expecting some sort of punishment. It was a silly notion at best. Why should he punish Dan for something that was clearly not his fault? Both of them had thought the horses well trained enough that even if they got loose they wouldn’t wander to far, content to stay and graze. Apparently wander lust had infected Duncan, and after weeks of traveling behind the massive beast, Akutsu was more than happy to follow the leader of the herd.
“Alright, Dan, stop crying,” he ordered. Dan hiccupped once and hastily wiped his eyes, jumping to his feet. When Momo was sure Dan would not break out into hysterical tears again, he continued. “There’s nothing left to do but fine Duncan and Akutsu, alright? Now, if I had to guess, they probably headed for the river. It was negligent on our parts to not water them first,” he admitted.
Dan shook his head, “Oh no, Your Highness! It’s my job, so it’s my fault, desu!”
Momo glowered, “Be that as it may, we still need to find them.” He looked around the clearing, spotting a rather large part of the bushes that seemed to have gotten a beating. “I can guess they went this way,” he pointed at the bruised bushes. “Come on. If they made that big a mess going through bushes then the trail should be easy to follow.”
“Sir!” Dan saluted, falling in step behind Momoshiro as he made to follow the horses’ path.
They traveled for what seemed hours. The horses’ path was at best meandering, and at worst the crazed path of a drunkard. Still, Momoshiro had to wonder how Duncan’s halter came undone. Those halters were top of the line from the capital, and no merchant dared to sell Momo anything but the best. That left several options, and the one Momoshiro concluded could be one of the only possibly choices was that there was a band of thieves in these woods, and while he and Dan were gone had taken Duncan and Akutsu as some sort of prize. Since the horses still had their saddle packs on that was more than plausible since a portion of his travel funds were still inside them, not to mention gifts for the King, Lord Tachibana, and the Lady Tachibana. Man, why was this happening now?
They eventually made it to the river, but there was no sign of the horses. After traveling both directions up and down the river for some time, Momo finally decided the horses must have crossed to the other side. Grumbling to himself, Momo and Dan waded across, but found no immediate signs of the horses’ passage. To be honest, the signs had somewhat faded about twenty minutes ago, but Momo amounted that to the fact the horses were getting used to forest travel. Still, there was no use in stopping now, and he assumed at some point they would hear his giant beast picking off leaves from bushes or crushing something beneath his hooves.
They searched for many more hours, all of it fruitless. Finally, after what seemed to long a time, his feet aching and his face scratched from pushing through so many branches, his squire gasped. “Sir! Your Highness, I think I see a rooftop, desu!” Dan cried out.
Momoshiro paused and followed the direction Dan was pointing. Indeed, there was a rooftop. And if there were a cottage, there were people. Possibly the thieves that stole their horses!
“Forward, Dan!” Momoshiro growled, surging through the flora, heading straight for that cottage rooftop.
“Your Highness!” Dan squeaked, running after him.
Rage boiled in Momoshiro’s gut. How dare some backwater commoners steal his horse? Did these people have no sense of decency? Did they not know whom they were dealing with? Printed quite clearly on Dan’s saddle pad was Momoshiro’s personal emblem, and on Momoshiro’s was the emblem of the Royal Family of Hyotei. Were these ruffians so uneducated they could not even tell that much? When he got hold of them there would be no mercy!
He pushed through the last of the bushes, stumbling into a rather large cleared area. To his left stood a massive cottage, made of soft brown wood and golden thatch. Whoever these thieves were, they had done their plundering well, since he spotted glass in the windows. Even in Hyotei glass was reserved for only the highest of nobility and cost a fortune even for a small window.
His gaze quickly spotted his own Duncan, the roan animal held by a young man with black hair and a green bandanna. Akutsu seemed happy enough to stand next to a taller man with glasses. Three others stood to the side around a table that seemed as it was being prepared for a picnic of some sort, and the one holding Duncan did not seem happy as the other three spoke.
His anger pushed all rational through from his mind as he stormed across the clearing. “There you are! Stop at once thief!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
The three at the table started and turned quickly, their faces betraying their surprise. The man holding Duncan widened his eyes, but the man holding Akutsu just pushed his glasses further up on his nose and pointed at Momoshiro, saying something. Whatever it was, it was apparently not an order to kill him, since nobody attempted to stop him or Dan as he stormed up and stopped before the man holding Duncan.
“Release my horse,” he growled, “by order of the Crown Prince of Hyotei.”
The young man glared at him, nearly as tall as Momoshiro. Momoshiro got an eyeful of a rather handsome face - softly chiseled, a narrow nose, eyes dark as a night sky, and lips full enough he thought they belonged a woman, but looked pleasant on the man. Wisps of dark black hair poked out from beneath the bandana, and a well-muscled arm gripped Duncan’s reins.
“I said release my horse,” Momoshiro repeated himself, putting all his princely arrogance behind his words.
“Kaidoh, do as His Highness says,” chastised one of the three men by the table - the one with close cut hair and sideburns, amber eyes flashing at the man holding Duncan (apparently called Kaidoh), lips forced down in a scowl.
Kaidoh glared at Momoshiro, then, of all things, hissed. This man actually hissed at him! He held out the reins roughly, glaring. Duncan snorted his displeasure at having his mouth so roughly yanked with the bit still in.
Momoshiro glowered, “I’d thank you not to ruin my horse’s mouth by manhandling him, Mr. Viper.”
Kaidoh’s eyes widened. “I’m not a Viper!” he growled, voice low like a rumble of thunder.
“No? Then a thief,” Momoshiro said as he snatch the reins.
“I did not steal your horse!” Kaidoh thundered. “I found them by the river!”
Momoshiro snorted. “So you just took them then, eh? That’s called stealing!”
“Not when there’s no one around to claim ownership!”
“The saddle pads’ insignia say who they belong to!”
“Couldn’t you have stolen them yourself?”
Momoshiro gaped, “I beg your pardon! I am Crown Prince Momoshiro of Hyotei! I do not steal! But apparently vipers in Seigaku make false accusations and steal!”
“I told you I found them by the river! And I am not a viper!” Kaidoh thundered, the man accenting his words with a deep hiss.
“Enough!” barked the man from earlier that had chastised Kaidoh for not immediately giving Duncan over to Momoshiro. “Enough both of you! You’re acting like five year olds!”
Momoshiro blinked at this man that dared lecture him as if he was his mother. However, he did have a point. Coughing, Momoshiro straightened himself and calmed down, nodding to the man with a bowl cut, “Yes, you are right. Please forgive my rudeness. I admit I have jumped to conclusions, but evidence suggested thieves.”
The man that had been holding Akustu came around to stand with the other three, and Momoshiro had to note he was dressed more gentlemanly than the others. “It is understandable, considering what fine horseflesh your mounts are,” he said.
Momoshiro nodded his head at the compliment, “Well, I apologize for any insult I may have caused. If you will excuse us, my squire and myself should be going now. We need to be in the capital before to long.”
The tall, silver haired man standing by the table held up a placating hand, “Won’t you at least stay for dinner? We have more than enough to add two people, and it’s the least we can do after causing you so much trouble.”
Kaidoh hissed under his breathe, but was silenced by a glare from the bowl cut man. Momoshiro would have refused, but a twist in his stomach said that dinner would be nice. He didn’t honestly think these men would try and drug him if they simply gave the horse back, though one had addressed him as ‘Your Highness’, which suggested they did indeed know whom he was. He licked his lips, glancing at the five before another angry twist of his stomach decided him.
“Very well. It cannot hurt,” he admitted.
The silver haired man beamed, “Wonderful! I’ll go tell Takishi we have two more guests! Kaidoh, show His Highness to where he can keep the horses for now.”
Kaidoh glowered at the silver haired man and let out another hiss before turning on his heel and stomping off towards the cottage. He looked back over his shoulder. “Are you coming?” he snarled.
Momoshiro’s hackles rose, but he refrained from rising to the bait. He would not make a fool of himself before his hosts. With as much dignity as he could muster, he clicked his tongue and started following the Viper, all the while swearing he could hear Kaidoh hissing.