Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He had made an honorable decision, but he knew he ultimately wouldn’t live happily ever after. Prince Kanata had a duty to the people of Hope Kingdom, and their happiness was much more important to him than his own. He was their prince after all, and with his father’s health declining rapidly he knew he would be taking over as King of the Hope Kingdom soon. It is a universally acknowledged fact that a king must take a queen. The prince hadn’t given much thought to who he would marry, he let his advisors choose a spouse for him. They assured him this marriage would be beneficial for Hope Kingdom, which comforted him somewhat. Some princess from a neighboring kingdom that has never known the destruction of Dysdark. It was Kanata’s duty to continue the royal bloodline, to marry a princess.

Princess… He thought sadly. No. He promised himself not to interfere with her life. Not again. He already made her miss out on being a normal teenager by giving her the dress-up key, effectively sealing her fate as a warrior for Hope Kingdom; a place she had no connection to and definitely no reason to fight for as hard as she did. She had given her very all as Cure Flora, she even became a Grand Princess-- the highest title one could earn in Hope Kingdom, one that can only be earned by the Precure.

She’s so strong, kind and beautiful. She always has been. Ever since the first time we met. Kanata shook his head, trying to push thoughts of Haruka out of his mind. His feelings for her only grew every time they encountered one another. She was his new dream. All he hoped for was the happiness of the one person able to pull him from the darkness so many time. Such a beautiful person, inside and out, didn’t deserve to have her future taken from her. She had a purpose in the human world, he was sure. To live a normal life and be the beautiful princess she had become. He didn’t have any direct contact with her any more, but he had asked Pafu and Aroma to watch over her. To make sure Dyspear didn’t target her again. He may not be able to be involved in her life, but he had to know she was safe. She was his dream after all.

“Prince Kanata,” Aroma’s voice drew him from his thoughts. “Are you all right?”
“O-oh, sorry” the purple haired prince replied. “Yes, I’m fine. Just lost in my thoughts.”
Aroma frowned. He had seen this unfocused expression on the prince’s face so often he didn’t even need to ask what he was thinking. “We need your approval of the china pattern for the engagement party.”
“Yes, of course.” Kanata absentmindedly looked over the sketch that Aroma was carrying. “This looks fine, thank you Aroma. You may go.”
“Prince Kanata, i-is there anything you want to talk about?” The bird butler asked, worried if he was overstepping his boundaries.
“You can guess well enough, Aroma.” Kanata smiled at him sadly. They’d already had this discussion too many times. But Aroma still didn’t understand. Kanata needed to marry a princess, and Cure Flora was a Grand Princess. The butler tried telling the prince Haruka’s feelings for him, as they appeared to be obvious to everyone but the prince himself, but he wouldn’t listen. Kanata was convinced her life was better without him. Aroma, Pafu and Princess Towa disagreed.
“Very well, Prince Kanta.” Aroma said before flying off, leaving Kanata to his melancholy thoughts of his lost love. He had a few matters to discuss with Princess Towa.

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

Towa was more than angry when she learned of Kanata’s engagement to a woman neither of them had ever met. He was her brother! The person who she was closest to in the entire kingdom. And he was getting married to someone he never even met? The princess of the flames knew of arranged marriages but they were so outdated they rarely happened any more! Worst of all, her brother had made the decision to have an arranged marriage when his true soul mate was just a world away. It was ridiculous! It was illogical! And a Grand Princess would make a much better queen than some random princess from some random kingdom. Even though she was from the human world Haruka’s belief in dreams was so strong she fit in perfectly with the citizens of Hope Kingdom. Towa knew Haruka and her brother were meant to be but he could just be so stubborn sometimes.
“Princess Towa,” a soft voiced pulled her from her calligraphy, which wasn’t going very well any way. “There’s something very important I need to talk to you about.”
“Yes Aroma, I know what you have to say already.” Towa said, turning to him and sighing.
“Princess Towa! We have to do something at on-- uff!” Pafu came running through the door until she tripped on one of her ears. Towa chuckled and walked over to her, kneeling down.
“Aroma, Pafu, I know what you need to talk to me about” Towa said, tying back Pafu’s ears.
“No Princess Towa! She’ll be here in three days!” Pafu cried with panic in her voice.
“W-what? Brother’s fiancee? But they weren’t supposed to be meeting for another week! How, why? What is the meaning of this?” The princess of the Hope Kingdom asked her servants.
“What do you mean three days? We don’t have the details worked out for the engagement party yet! Why Prince Kanata only just approved the design for the china! There’s still the catering, the music, the--”
“No, not the party!” Pafu cut off her brother. “She’s coming to the Hope Kingdom to confirm their engagement and make a public announcement on behalf of her kingdom. And she’ll be here in only three days from today! Princess Towa we have to do something! What about Haruka?” Pafu looked at Towa with pleading puppy dog eyes.
“This sounds suspicious,” Towa contemplated. “The princess already officially accepted brother’s proposal in writing a week ago. The two weren’t supposed to meet until the engagement party, why the sudden change of plans? This isn’t normal for an arranged marriage… Does my brother know about this?”
“I don’t know. I’m just as surprised as you are Princess Towa.”
“The Prince doesn’t know,” Aroma confirmed. “I had just spoken with him. He would have asked about her arrival.”
Towa turned her back to the royal fairies in contemplation. She knew what she was planning to do was extremely punishable, but if her suspicions were right, the Kingdom was in grave danger. The portal between Hope Kingdom and the human world was only to be used for emergencies. But what constituted an emergency, exactly? To Princess Towa, this was an emergency.
“Pafu, Aroma,” the scarlet princess said slowly, confidently giving the fairies instructions.. “I once again must ask too much of you. You are to go to the human world, find Haruno Haruka and bring her back to Hope Kingdom. As Princess of the Hope Kingdom I give you permission to enter their world.”
“But.. what will we do once Haruka is back here? What if she doesn’t want to come with us?” Aroma asked hesitantly.
Towa smiled. “I think all we’ll have to do is give these two some time alone together and they’ll work things out how we imagine they will. And of course she’ll come back, you two have been watching her right? She looks at her dress-up key every day, and I know she’s thinking of my brother every time. Those two have a connection. She has to know something is going on.”
“Yes! We will bring Haruno Haruka to Hope Kingdom!” Pafu saluted, accepting their mission gladly.
“Thank you, now get going you two. We haven’t any time to waste!” Towa smiled at them, her hands on her hips. She might be young but she had all the leadership qualities of a queen.

The two fairies nodded and flew away. Towa sighed after they were out of sight. She figured there was a 50% chance their plan would work out, but only time would tell.

Chapter Text

While school and education had always been important to Haruka, princess lessons weren't exactly part of a regular university curriculum. She made the choice to go despite that, much to the delight of her parents. She decided on History as her academic focus as a way to sneakily continue learning about monarchies throughout time. She figured there were many different paths to her true dream, even if her family never fully understood.
Not like Kanata had, anyway… Haruka thought nostalgically. He believed in her dream like no one else she had ever met. Of course her friends were more than supportive, they even joined her on her journey of becoming a princess and encouraged her to keep believing when she needed it the most. But with Kanata she never felt like a bud of a princess, even if she was right next to a real prince. His genuine belief in her was enough to propel her through the last seven years.
That didn’t disclude her best friends, of course. Even after their days at Noble Academy were over, Haruka, Minami, Kirara and Yui all put forth their best effort to keep in touch with texts and weekly Skype sessions. They never felt complete as just a group of four, but every time Kirara was able to convince them that Towa would never stop giving it her all for Hope Kingdom. The Star Princess, as many magazines now called her, had made great strides breaking on to the international modeling scene. At the same time, Minami was making daily progress in her marine veterinarian studies. Even Yui was nearly complete with her Fine Arts degree in illustration. And here Haruka was with a nearly finished degree in History and a minor in violin performance, and no idea what she wanted to do with it. Despite her uncertainty, Haruka knew that if she gave it her all every day to keep being strong, kind and beautiful, she’d get to where she was meant to be.
Where I’m meant to be, huh? Haruka looked down at the mostly blank sheet music she’d been working on for the past thirty minutes, trying to get some homework in before her shift at the Kibougahana Flower shop. Except instead of writing down notes the corners of her page were covered in doodles of flowers and the Hope Kingdom crest. She couldn’t place her finger on why, but she was more distracted than usual today. Memories of Kanata and Hope Kingdom dominated her thoughts. Rummaging through her violin case, Haruka pulled out her crystalised dress up key and held it up to the sunlight, hoping to see some shimmer of its former magic.
“It was around flowers just like these where he gave this to me, wasn’t it?” Haruka mused, turning towards the cosmos. She said that if they both wished for it from the very bottom of their hearts that they would definitely meet again.
“I can’t wait to see you again, Kanata,” she smiled at the key and put it in her pocket. That was what she had to do: believe every day that he was wishing to see her again just as much as she was. The sound of her phone alarm pulled her back to reality, she quickly packed up her violin and sheet music and sprinted from the greenhouse to the storefront. Hopefully Kaoruko wouldn’t scold her too harshly for being late this time.
“Gokigenyo!” Haruka nearly shouted as she flung open the front door to the store.
“You’re an entire minute early today, Haruka-chan,” Kaoruko smiled. “Maybe you felt that today was more important than usual, hm?”
Haruka scratched the back of her head. “N-no, Kaoruko-san. I was just a little too focused on this piece I’m working on.” She held up her violin sheepishly.
“Oh? What’s this one like?” Kaoruko went back to spraying some orange roses. Haruka picked up a small spray bottle and joined her.
“It’s based off of the first piece I ever learned, the one that made me want to learn the violin,” Haruka smiled at the memory. “I’m thinking of calling it The Prince and the Flowers.”
“The Prince and the Flowers? That sounds like a duet to me.” Kaoruko looked up from the flowers to grin teasingly at Haruka.
“I-It could be! I mean, maybe someday. But for now all I have is the melody.” Haruka leaned in even closer to the flowers to hide the blush on her face.
“Hm, if you say so. Oh, before I forget, some friends of yours are waiting for you in the back office.”
Haruka tilted her head and walked toward the back. “Friends? My best friends are out of the country.”
“I’m not so sure, dearie, they seemed quite set on meeting you.”
“But how could that…” Haruka stopped in her tracks.
“Haruka!” The royal fairies said in unison.
“Pafu?! Aroma?! What did you, h-how did you...K-Kaoruko-san! You’re right! Ha, I guess my friends mailed me some plushies! I’m so lucky, I’ll just take these outside and--” Haruka hastily picked up the fairies and started moving toward the front door. Kaoruko stepped in front of her.
“Haruka-chan, it’s okay. I am more than familiar with fairies and matters of the Precure,” the older woman patted Pafu’s head. “And these two seem to need the help of Cure Flora.”
Haruka’s mouth dropped open. “How did you know that I was a…” Aroma hopped out of Haruka’s arms and onto her shoulder.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk! You’ve been here for how long and don’t even recognize Cure Flower? One of the strongest Precure of all time? Let alone the grandmother of Cure Blossom.” Aroma chided her.
“Y-you were a… why didn’t you tell me? I have so many questions!”
Kaoruko only kept her knowing smile in place. “Oh those days are long behind both me and my granddaughter. But you, Cure Flora, your kingdom needs you.”
Haruka’s face dropped. “Kaoruko, I’m afraid my Precure days are long behind me as well.”
“That isn’t true!” Pafu cried, jumping out of Haruka’s arms. “We are under direct orders from Princess Towa to bring you to Hope Kingdom at once!”
“T-Towa sent for me?” Haruka stepped back. “What does Towa need me for?”
Aroma and Pafu exchanged glances and Aroma spoke carefully. “W-well it isn’t really Princess Towa who needs you. Prince Kanata is the one with the problem, Princess Towa just---”
“Kanata needs me?” Haruka looked down and blushed lightly. Could her wishes finally be coming true?
Aroma hopped down from Haruka’s shoulder on to the floor next to his sister. “Of course the Prince needs you! Princess Towa is convinced you’re the only one who can help before this situation gets even more out of hand. Now come on, we haven’t any time to waste--- wait, what are you doing?”
Haruka quickly put her phone back in her pocket. “I updated the others on the situation! If Dyspear is back then we’re going to need all the help we can get, right?”
“Dyspear?” Pafu asked, fear in her voice. Aroma put a wing around her shoulders.
“I mean, I know you didn’t say anything, but if Hope Kingdom is in as much urgent trouble as you two say it is then they should be in the loop, too.” Haruka started walking toward the front door of the shop and then turned. “Oh, Kaoruko-san! I’m sorry for leaving on such short notice.”
The older Precure smiled. “Not at all, dear. Now go save your prince.”
Haruka blushed brightly and nodded. “R-right. Come on, Pafu, Aroma! Prince Kanata needs me, right?”
The two fairies nodded to each other then flew after her. “Right!”
I’ll be there soon, Kanata. Haruka thought as a flash of pink petals flew around them. Whatever you need, I’ll be there for you soon.