Chapter Text
The cold water soothed his throat.
“I’m such an ugly crier, am I not?” Tooru whispered.
He brushed his fingers over Tadashi’s hair and squinted his eyes in the purple hues flooding the room. A childlike smile greeted him. The strokes forming the lawn and the trees complimented his friend’s leafy hair, cowlick, greenish tones and all. Green has always suited Tadashi.
“A true son of the forest,” Tooru said bitterly. As soon as the words tumbled out of his mouth an acidic guilt rose to claw at his stomach.
“Petty, you always have been petty,” he heard the walls saying to him. Yeah, a petty whiny child who nonetheless found a resemblance of a home. Nope, a true home. It goes without saying that he had to be so idiotic to leave it.
“I need my hours of sleep back, thank you very much!” he growled at the dying embers in the tiny fireplace. He then rekindled the fire and, for a bit, he stayed crouched down by it to warm his hands. Getting something to drink, talking to his most treasured belongings (Tadashi’s portrait first of all), blaming the cold and the humidity seeping through the shutters for his insomnia and finally tucking himself in has become his own calming routine. It worked well only during the week, self-inflicted fatigue being his sleeping drug. A dreamless unconsciousness usually lulled him to sleep, to the point that nor the postal owl’s shrieks neither Ukai’s yelled “get up already!” could rouse him from his comatose state. Ukai and his brutal visits at the crack of the dawn. He wondered if his uncle was trying, in a peculiar way, to force him to go sleep at a decent hour at least when he knew well beforehand that his dear uncle would come the day after.
“It hurts!” Tooru winced. He was so small. He tried to ease the pain throbbing in his limbs curling up but before he could become a tight ball of a child another kick came, right into his stomach.
“Look at him, all curled up and with snot covering his face,” Daishou said.
“Please, stop,” Tooru pleaded, his voice dying in his throat.
“You are such an ugly crier,” mocked Daishou, “Mr. No Fairy”.(1) He yanked Tooru’s hair and pulled his face back, looming above him. The umpteenth kick hit Tooru, this time on the chin, and a handful of dirt was plastered all over his hair.
“Dirt to the dirt. What’s that look? Envious of our bright blonde hair?” Sakishima said, laughing at him. He even started brushing his fingers through the dull blonde locks which framed his forehead.
Paralyzed, shaking, Tooru felt so pathetic. It would do no harm just to muster his last strength and yell.
“Help me, please! Help me!” he shrieked with all his might. The air rushed out of his lungs and left a searing pain in its wake. His voice startled the flock of the boys, who fell silent for a moment.
“Bastard, how dare you!” Hiroo grabbed hold of his shirt and lifted him, just to have a more suitable punchball.
“Stop it!” a firm voice raised.
“What the? Tadashi? Why are you here?” asked Daishou, anger oozing in waves from him. Leave it to Tadashi and their village would become a stray dog’s shelter.
Relief started to wash over Tooru.
“Help me! Please, help me!” another voice resounded, tired.
Daishou, the kids, Tadashi were all gone, the village was swallowed in black, and Tooru couldn’t grasp from where that voice came.
“I need your help, our time is ticking away! I can’t do this alone. Help me, please,” urged the new voice.
“Who are you?” Tooru asked, stunned. But his question wasn’t met with any response. He waited for some time, seconds or minutes, who could guess a single thing in that deep shadows.
“Oh gods, not this nonsense again! We can’t waste any time. Don’t make me beg!”
“Ehi, calm down! I have no clue about what’s happening and you are being very rude, you know?” replied Tooru.
“Why can’t you answer with a coherent response? Stop whining, I’m saying I need your help!” the voice spoke again.
“Who’s… I’m not whining! Get your ears checked! I have been asking you for a while who the heck are you?” Silence, once again. “Well, not a smart one, considering that you are asking me for help, out of all people.”
“Am I being rude now? Calling a complete stranger who could be anyone ‘not a smart one’ isn’t the last trend in the Manners’ manual. Plus, I have been calling you for ages, telling you exactly who I am,” and soon after came a calmer and more condescending tone. “Just… just consider that this kind of communication maybe is not the easiest one and that something might get lost, would you?”
“I… I’m sorry,” Tooru rushed to say. Sue him, the gentler turn in the conversation surprised him.
“I could gladly provide my full lineage, but, as you may have guessed, we are short of time, oh almighty ‘Hero of Time’. I’ll go straight to the point: I am princess Iwaizumi, the daughter of our king. I am asking on his behalf and for the sake of our realm, would you kindly get your noble body out of the blankets and come get me OUT of this castle already? ”
“Princess? What are you talking about? How this is even possible?” Tooru raised his voice and sat bolt upright in bed.