Chapter Text
“After him!”
“He couldn’t have gotten that far, could he?!”
Shuichi knew he had to run.
Raindrops penetrated the cloak over his head, slowly seeping into his actual clothing. He hoped they’d dry off soon.. Granted, this was assuming he didn’t get caught. He wasn’t sure where he was running, though his legs carried him into the dark forest behind the looming castle. The castle guards weren’t the brightest, so there was a chance he could lose them here.. He ducked behind a large tree and tried his best not to move.
His breath hitched..
“Do you think-?”
“That way-!”
Shuichi let out a sigh of relief as his body visibly relaxed. Once the guards were out of earshot, he quickly shoved the soaked cloak into his bag;he’d just have to let it dry later. They knew who Shuichi was back at the castle, so seeing him outside wouldn’t seem too weird. Perhaps he could make up an excuse that he was looking for reagents.
He walked aimlessly, his eyes glazed over in thought as he mulled over what had just occurred not so long ago. He accidentally found a hidden room during his culture festival preparations, and on his way out some guards had noticed him. He was able to deduce it indeed important if they were so worried about anyone stumbling in. He only wished that he had found more information during his brief visit. Perhaps he could risk another visit, perhaps-
*Snap!*
“Ah-!”
Shucihi had barely registered the noise before a net had engulfed him, pulling him upwards into some sort of trap. He dangled there dazed for a moment as his mind attempted to process what happened. His own disorientation muffled the sounds around him.. The dim light of a lantern approached him as he gathered his bearings. In a panic, Shuichi retrieved and threw his hood over his head to attempt to obscure his face.
“Do you see... up ahead?”
“... Yeah...”
As he panicked, Shuichi began to scavenge his bag for something, anything really. He wasn’t picky, just something that could cut the net. He could feel his loud, rhythmic heartbeat ringing in his ears as his hands frantically moved things in his bag. At this rate he was probably-
A scaly winged creature suddenly flew out of the bushes and attacked one of the guard’s faces. Shuichi watched as the guard recoiled backwards, desperately trying to pull the creature’s claws away from his skin. The screaming was so loud that the tripping of the wire was almost unheard. Not a moment later, the animal suddenly hopped onto the ground and scurried back into the bushes. A large tree branch swung and knocked the distracted guard off his feet. He landed a couple of feet away with a loud thud and didn’t move after that.
The other guard attempted to rush over and check the other when something snuck out of the bushes. Whatever it was, it was too fast for Shuichi to see. It was too dark to make out the details, but he could see two figures. One had suddenly collapsed to the ground, knocking the lantern over. He couldn’t tell what was happening, but Shuichi deduced the guards were unconscious since they weren’t standing back up, which relieved some of his anxiety. In his panic, Shuichi created a small ball of light that flickered from his fingertips into the air around him to illuminate the surrounding area.
Now with light, Shuichi noticed a figure with a tattered black cloak minding his own business and searching for something. The light caught the eye of the figure which made them look towards Shuichi. Shuichi was too focused on the random tendrils of hair poking out of the hood of the cloak to realize...
“Wha-!?”
… that they were going to cut the rope.
There was a dull, throbbing pain all throughout his entire body as Shuichi rubbed his lower back. By the time his vision cleared up, the other figure was about to bolt.
“Hey, wait-” Shuichi called out.
The figure stopped and turned around at Shuichi’s cry.
“You know, for someone whose life just got saved you sure are demanding a lot! Maybe I should make you grovel and beg for your life!”
Shuichi blinked, slightly stunned. Upon further inspection, this figure seemed to be someone quite young, “What are you doing? Were these-”
“Welllll I think making you grovel would take too long. Don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be around when those two guys over there wake up,” he made a peculiar sounding laugh, “They’re going to be pret-ty mad when they find out all of their money is gone.”
Shuichi then noticed that small creature that attacked one of the guards earlier;it looked like a… dragon?
He recoiled back at the sight of it. Dragons weren’t exactly common in the area, let alone having one as a companion. They were usually hunted for their impenetrable scales, so Shuichi found it peculiar that this one seemed so friendly.
“II-s that yours?”
The boy whipped around to face Shuichi , then to the dragon then back to Shuichi, “Ohhhh, I see. So you’re afraid of the dragon are you? Well maybe I’ll be extra nice today and not make you feel the fiery flames of doom!”
Shuichi blinked, unable to make sense of what he heard. He could tell this person was joking, but he couldn’t figure out his motives. With a sigh, Shuichi closed his eyes and picked himself up off the ground to dust himself off.
“Erm, I don’t really think-”
Before Shuichi could finish his question the other person had already darted off into the forest without a trace, the faint sound of flapping following him. He genuinely had no idea what had happened, but the guards were still unconscious on the ground in front of him. He didn’t know who that person was, but he had a point as Shuichi’s legs started to carry him back towards the castle. He could always sort out the details of what happened in the morning.
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“So yer sayin’ that some kid ended up saving you last night?” Kaito asked as the duo walked through the marketplace.
“Well, I think the story is more like they were his traps in the first place, but… I suppose it was better than getting caught by those guards…” Shuichi grimaced at the thought.
The marketplace was bustling with locals trying to get whatever items they could get their hands on. He heard some stall owners bark about magical trinkets that probably didn’t work earlier. It was a little overwhelming how many different conversations were going on at once; it’d be impossible to focus on all of them. Not to mention Shuichi had hardly gotten what would be considered a “good-night’s rest”. His mind was still wired about his encounter last night.
“So, what're you gonna do?”
“H-huh?” Shuichi looked up towards Kaito, the words seemed to pull him out of his thoughts.
“I mean, putting this kid aside, are you going to go back and take another look wherever you were last night?”
“Ah-well, I can’t say I’m not curious… I’m sure if I could get a more thorough look I could find something. I’m not sure when I'll get another chance though. I have a feeling they’ll probably up the amount of guards in that area, and I’m not exactly known for being sneaky.”
There was an awkward silence between the two as they walked through the square. Shuichi knew he had to go back, but not getting caught seemed almost impossible.
“Why are you doing this anyways?” Kaito spoke up to break the silence.
Shuichi looked up with Kaito with a slight hint of panic in his eyes. He should’ve expected a question like this to come up. Of course it would look suspicious to anyone if he admitted to searching around the castle late at night when he wasn’t supposed to. It’s not that Shuichi didn’t trust Kaito; he was arguably the person he trusted the most since arriving in the city. His mission was important, however, but there was a small part of him that was afraid Kaito would let something slip about him investigating King Korekiyo.
“There’s no big secret to it,” Shuichi lied, “I found the room by accident, and I wanted to take a better look at it, that’s all.”
Well, the part about finding the room was true at least. Kaito didn’t need to know about Shuichi’s mission that his uncle had sent him on.
Kaito seemed a bit confused, but thankfully he didn’t continue to press the topic.
“So, have you ever seen that kid before that saved you last night?” Kaito asked.
“Not to my memory, no. They had a cloak on and it was dark, so I didn’t get a very good look. They looked like a guy, though. I only remember seeing that he had very unkempt hair,” Shuichi pondered for a minute, before his eyes flashed for a moment, “Oh, and he had a small dragon with him. I think it was a pet?”
“Did-id you just say a dragon!?” Kaito practically gagged on his own words, as he started to violently cough.
“Ah-Kaito not so loud!” Shuichi patted his back to help him calm down, “I can only assume it’s one. It looked scaly and had wings. The guy also mentioned something about fire I'm pretty sure.”
Kaito’s expression was one of shock and bewilderment at Shuichi’s words. Shuichi wasn’t the best person at reading expressions, but he could tell Kaito couldn’t make sense of what he just said.
“Must be some wacky kid then. He can’t possibly live around here, so I’m sure someone would’ve noticed if there was a dragon around here,” Kaito said, snapping his fingers upon remembering something, “Oh, that reminds me bro! Did you hear that they’re out catching a dragon for the culture festival? Some of the guards were talking about it. I think they wanted to put on some fire show or something.”
“... Really?”
Shuichi had almost forgotten about the culture festival among all of this, and the date was slowly creeping up on him. He still didn’t finish all of his peperations. As much as he wanted to keep investigating, he needed to keep up with his duties so nobody would catch onto him.
“That reminds me, I need to pick up-” Shuichi then ran ahead of Kaito mid-sentence, however, something caught his eye just briefly at one of the stalls. It was enough to make him stop dead in his tracks however. He couldn’t stop himself from staring.
Over at one of the stalls was, from what Shuichi could surmise, the same boy as last night buying something with which he could assume was the stolen money. Now that it was broad daylight, Shuichi was able to tell that the boy’s hair was even worse than he thought. His thick strips of hair were scattered in all directions. The cloak he had on was also tattered at the bottom, as if it had been worn for years on end.
“Hey Shuichi, what are you-” Kaito tried to speak up, but Shuichi wasn’t listening as he made his way over to the person at the stall.
Shuichi must not have been the most stealthy person in the world because the approaching footsteps caused the person to turn around in surprise. His purple eyes looked slightly panicked, but only for a second as they flashed with recognition.
“Ohhhhhhh, you’re the idiot that got caught in the net last night!” He beamed, much to Shuichi’s dismay.
“Wha-!? Not so loud. I just um-”
“Oh oh, I know, you wanted to take me up on that groveling offer! Well I don’t have all day, so you better get started!”
“N-No that’s not it. I just wanted to thank you, that’s all.”
The boy’s expression changed into something of disappointment, as he sighed and placed his hands behind his head.
“Maaan, it would’ve been funnier if you just groveled instead.”
Before he could open his mouth again, the boy’s eyes glanced around until they met with something else... and his entire demeanor changed. His posture made it look as if he was about to bolt.
“Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got places to be. Maybe we’ll meet again, person-that-got-caught-in-a-net!” He then snickered, “Nishishi~! Or maybe not.”
Just as he was about to leave, Shuichi went to grab his arm, causing him to jerk back on instinct. His eyes narrowed in reaction as he attempted to jerk away. Not a second later they widened, almost in panic.
“Wait, let me at least-”
“Hey isn’t that the guy from last night?”
Shuichi’s head jerked at the voice only to see two guards rushing towards him. In his shock, Shuichi felt something slip out of his grip. When he turned around, he found the cloaked figure darting off with a crowd of guards chasing after him. Shuichi was confused at first, until when he glanced down at the black cloak that engulfed the boy’s body. Then it hit him, they thought he was the intruder from last night.
“Oh there you are bro! I was wondering-”
“We need to go, Kaito. c’mon!” Shuichi then grabbed his friend’s wrist and pulled him in the direction of the guards.
The duo made their way down the street at a quickened pace where eventually they hit a clearing where lots of citizens were gathered. Upon getting through random bystanders, Shuichi saw the boy he was just talking to get pushed down onto the ground and have a sturdy rope tied around his wrists. Shuichi couldn’t help but wince at the sight of the guards dragging their “prisoner” away triumphantly.
“Man, what was all that about? Did they catch a thief or something?” Kaito asked.
“I…” Shuichi anxiously looked over his shoulder at the guards slowly vanishing from his view, “I think they mistook him for me.”
“They what-”
“Hey Kaito, they usually throw prisoners in the dungeon, right?”
“W-Well yes,” Kaito answered as he looked at Shuichi in surprise, “You don’t intend to try and break him out, do you?”
“Let’s just finish up what we need to do; I’ll tell you about it later,” Shuichi then egged Kaito to follow him back into the marketplace.