Chapter Text
When the clock strikes midnight on their twenty-first birthday, an heir to the throne is of age to marry and must undergo the matchmaking ceremony. A group of ten suitors, chosen no later than the week prior by the king and queen will be assessed by the Magicae, a tree of legend blessed by the gods. The ceremony begins at the altar in front of the Magicae. The heir will place both hands on the tree, and recite the following: amor patiens est benigna est. mea verus amor auxilium mihi invenire. They shall then stand beside the tree and wait for each suitor to be called forward.. Each one will approach in the same manner as the heir and recite the following: sciam si dignus sum. Should the tree move to place a branch upon a suitor’s shoulder, they have been chosen to marry into the royal family. The others will be sent home with a year's worth of wages for sacrificing their time towards the magical ceremony.
Rules:
1- It is forbidden to communicate with the Magicae before the official ceremony. The king and queen may only consult with the court psychic for guidance.
2- In the rare instance that the tree does not consider any of the suitors worthy, it is up to the heir to select an 11th choice for review .
Ten Years Ago
Ochako spent the first twelve years of her life shadowing her parents, the king and queen of Merglin. The daily hands-on experience was designed to prepare her for her future duties as queen. In the kingdom of Merglin, the law decreed a royal child is required to spend all their free time with their parents for the first twelve years of their lives. This makes certain that they have been properly nurtured and given a chance to have a normal childhood before taking on the responsibilities of a monarch. Once they turn thirteen, they are partnered up with a squire chosen by the king who will obtain the title of “The Official Companion of The Crown.” The two will attend classes together with their assigned private tutor, chosen by the queen. The tutor will teach them swordsmanship, diplomacy, military tactics, mathematics, science and rhetoric. The squire would be Ochako’s adjutant and confidant until she got married, therefore it was important for them to be brought up together. This ensured that the two would remain on good terms and work in tandem as monarch and knight. After Ochako is married, the knight will become General of the Royal Army.
Ochako was delighted at the idea of getting a life-long friend. Her future partner was not.
Katuski Bakugo was raised to be a knight, not a “professional babysitter.” The Bakugou family came from a lineage of fierce warriors that helped the Uraraka clan claim the throne from the dreadful King Mineta three generations ago. To be assigned the task of being the royal brat’s Companion when his great grandfather assisted with overthrowing a tyrannical monarch was an insult to his lineage. He wanted to go to war, not stupid events like balls and fancy dinners; besides, how was he supposed to improve his sword fighting skills by training with a princess ? There was no way he was going to enjoy the next eight years of his life.
Despite his many protests, dinner that evening was excruciating as the topic of discussion was nothing other than his future, of course. After several efforts were made to distract his parents, there was no way to get them to change the subject.
Katsuki’s father, Masaru,spoke first, “consider it an honor to be chosen for something like this, Katsuki. Your great grandfather, Takeshi Bakugo, was the first General of the Royal Army after he helped Hiroki Uraraka become the King of Merglin.” Katsuki couldn’t help but roll his eyes before stuffing his mouth with food to avoid saying something he shouldn’t. He heard this story many times in his thirteen years of life, and it was starting to annoy him.
“Don’t roll your eyes at your father,” his mother, Mitsuki, growled, “it’s not polite and you need to get used to acting like you have SOME sense somewhere in that thick skull of yours.” Mitsuki paused to eat a bite of food and washed it down with a sip of wine before she continued, “You will NOT embarrass your father and I. Do you understand?” She met her son’s eyes with a devastating glare to say, “answer me. Right now” without saying a single word.
Katsuki, although having inherited his strong-willed demeanor (as his father liked to call it), from Mitsuki herself, knew to steer clear from her nasty side. “Yes,” he grumbled, food still in his mouth.
He earned a smack on the arm for that.
The eve of Ochako’s 13th birthday came and with it, an elegant, sophisticated party complete with an ornate ceremony to publicly declare the alliance between the princess and her Companion. Tradition stated that the two wouldn’t meet until the ceremony. The princess was bursting with excitement and ready for her new life-long friend. She wondered how much they would have in common! Her counterpart, on the other hand, was writhing in agony, forced to comb down his hair, AND the cravat he wore was strangling him. He couldn’t sit still during the carriage ride and was thankful his parents weren’t with him, his mother would have snapped at him at this point. His no-nonsense mentor, Shota Aizawa, accompanied him instead and despite being rough around the edges, provided tolerable company during the trip to his inevitable demise.
“I understand that this is not the future you wanted—” the older man exhaled, worn out by his mentee’s self-centered behavior—“but going into it with a negative attitude isn’t doing anyone, including you, any favors.” He crossed his arms and focused all of his attention on the young man in front of him, encouraging him to open up more.
“You don’t get it,” Katsuki groaned and leaned against the window, searching for an escape from the situation, “all I ever wanted to be was a knight. I wanted to be the best and serve my country with pride. This—” he pointed to his outfit and grimaced—“was not what I had in mind when mom and dad told me that I had been chosen for an ‘honorable’ position in the castle.”
Shota Aizawa was told several times that taking Katsuki Bakugou under his wing would be detrimental to his military career, but he knew better. He saw underneath Katsuki’s hardened exterior, and sensed a young man with the potential to become something greater than himself. When others complained about the blonde being too rough with his training partners during their practical exams, he responded with, “would their enemies take it easy on them? If anything, Katsuki is providing a realistic scenario for all of those seeking out the path of becoming a knight. Outside of these practical exams, where we tell these squires to give it their best shot, Katsuki has proven to be an excellent sparring partner not only for all of you, but for me as well.”
Katsuki trusted the man with his life after that.
Shota reached across to the young man in front of him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “you were chosen for a reason. I know it may not seem like the most honorable thing to do, to leave your comrades in arms for something such as this, but you will make a great leader someday.” He sighed and removed his hand from Katsuki’s shoulder to cross his arms once again, “Don’t forget that you will be the General of the ENTIRE Royal Army in eight years. This experience is a privilege that will fly by. Take the time to get to know your future queen.”
Katsuki was stunned, how could he forget?
“Fine. I’ll do my job well only because I look forward to being the best General that ever lived,” closing his fist as he made the declaration, “taking care of that princess is just one step.”
Shota—realizing that Katsuki missed the point—sighed once again, “Whatever keeps you on the right track I guess.”
“What are you talk—”
The carriage had made its destination and the doors opened before Katsuki could finish his question.
Shota stepped out first, “Come on kid, and don’t forget your gift for the Princess.”
“How could I? The old hag dragged me around so many damn markets to pick the perfect one…” Katsuki rolled his eyes at the memory before joining his mentor at the entrance of the event hall.
Ochako was buzzing with excitement when she finally heard the name of her special guest.
“Now presenting the future General of the Royal Army and Official Companion of the princess, Katsuki Bakugou.”
The Princess sprung up from her seat, watching her companion’s walk to the throne. Ochako looked at the boy with delight in her eyes. She would finally be able to have someone her age to be around every day instead of being surrounded by old people!
As Katsuki approached, all he could think of was how weak the princess looked and why the hell did she have such chubby cheeks?
He stood directly in front of Ochako, glaring before settling down on one knee in a bow, “good evening, Princess.”
Ochako, caught off guard by Katsuki’s menacing stare, fumbled her words, “Yes… uh… good evening to you as well,” she cleared her throat, “Um. You may rise, Companion.”
Great. The girl doesn’t even know how to talk.
The King and Queen remained on the sidelines to allow Ochako to have her moment, but the girl wished her momma was right next to her right now. She could feel the young man’s unwarranted hatred towards her, as he positioned himself beside her to continue with the ceremony.
She couldn’t cry. Not right now. She had to be brave, no matter how mean the boy was. After a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and leered right back, no longer wavering. Katsuki raised his brow for a moment, meeting her challenge and immediately returned to his bored stare. Ochako responded with a smirk, disappearing just as quickly.
The Royal Priest began the ceremony, unaware of the battle waging directly in front of him.
He spoke to the crowd first, “Thank you, everyone. You may be seated for the duration of the official Socius Ceremony,” he addressed Ochako and Katsuki next, “please kneel for the official blessing.”
The two turned towards the priest and knelt down on the pillows placed down for them.
“May these two children grow into fierce warriors and great leaders. May their partnership bring prosperity and safety to Merglin. May they be blessed with good health and long lives.” He reached into the pocket of his ceremonial robes for a knife with a ruby encrusted handle and handed it to Katsuki, “repeat after me, young man”
“Per sanguinem meum,”
“Per sanguinem meum,” Katsuki responded, monotone.
“vitam meam ad regnum.”
“vitam meam ad regnum,” Katsuki drawled, still not interested in the ceremony. Ochako felt her stomach lurch as she watched the squire slice his right palm before handing the knife to her with his left hand. She must have made the feeling apparent, as evidenced by the look of disappointment that flickered on Katsuki’s face.
The priest turned to Ochako and had her repeat what Katsuki had completed and gestured for her to carve her right palm as well.
The priest joined the children’s hands together and declared, “let this ceremony serve as a covenant dedicated to the serving the great Kingdom of Merglin!”
The crowd cheered while the priest raised the joined hands in the air, signaling the end of the ceremony, “Now feast and be merry in celebration of this momentous occasion!” The music started back up and the partygoers continued on their way for the evening.
The priest let go and whispered to the children, “I am proud of you both. Please make your way to your assigned servants over there.” He pointed to a red headed boy and a girl with pink hair who were stationed in the back of the event space, “they will help you get cleaned up for dinner,” he stopped them and handed the now clean knife and its sleeve to Katsuki, “take this, it’s your gift from the Princess.”
Katsuki was stunned at the craftsmanship of his new weapon. It was perfectly balanced with a light enough weight to move quickly in fights, but also heavy enough to effectively deliver a fatal blow. He smiled, “thank you, Princess Ochako.” The priest bowed before taking his leave. Once Katsuki was certain that the priest wasn’t paying attention to them anymore, he dropped the smile. He didn’t want the Princess to think they were friends or anything. Even IF she gave him an amazing gift.
Tradition provided the Princess and The Companion with their own personal servants to help with their duties. They were all the same age as one another and were expected to grow up together to strengthen their bonds.The servants were able to provide counsel from the perspective of citizens of the kingdom while also being able to provide for their families. The servants were appointed by the King and Queen based on recommendations by village leaders.
“Let’s go princess,” Katsuki offered his arm, “I wanna get this over with.”
Ochako responded without hesitation, “you’re not the only one.” She placed her palm on his bicep, allowing him to lead her to the servants, smiling at her future subjects as she and Katsuki made their way to the back of the hall.
“Oh please,” Katsuki mocked, “you’re getting the better end of this deal anyways.”
“Am I really?” Ochako replied incredulously, “I'm the one that has to deal with your rudeness.”
The two reached their destination, putting a pause on their conversation. Katsuki clenched his teeth, despising the fact of not getting the last word. It was for the best anyway, no need to bring shame to the family on day one by making the oh-so-wonderful princess cry.
The servants bowed.
“You may rise, my friends” Ochako smiled warmly, “My name is Ochako Uraraka, but you may call me Ochako when it’s just us. I don’t really like the ‘your majesty’ thing,” She scrunched her nose in disgust before continuing, “may I have your names?”
The girl spoke first, “My name is Mina Ashido, I look forward to working for you, Prin-, I mean Ochako.”
“Nice to meet you, Mina,” Ochako then addressed the young man, “what’s your name?”
“I’m Eijiro Kirishima!” He flashed what looked to be his signature smile. Ochako noticed the blush creep on Mina’s face, but didn’t say anything. She would save that for girl-talk later.
Eijiro faced Katsuki, “Look forward to working with you.”
“Can you sword fight?” Katsuki got straight to the point.
Ejiro puffed his chest, “Can I sword fight? I’m the reigning champ of the kid’s swordsmanship games in my village,” he boasted with his hands on his hips, “I’m the best.”
“Tsk. We’ll see about that,” Katsuki shrugged.
Ochako rolled her eyes, “I am happy we have someone strong like you here to help, Eijiro!” She ended her statement with a friendly smile.
Katsuki was about to tell them to stop chatting and get to cleaning up the mess on his hand until he noticed Shota approach them.
“Hello,” he greeted, “my name is Mr. Aizawa and I will be your tutor, Princess.”
Katsuki’s jaw dropped as Ochako responded, “it’s very nice to meet you!”
“What are you doing here?” Katsuki eyed his mentor suspiciously, “did my mom put you up to this?”
Shota was unamused, “Actually,” he gestured his chin towards the princess, “ her mother put me up to this. The Queen chooses a tutor for you two.”
The blonde rubbed his temple, “Thank the gods,” he was relieved, “I can have at least ONE good thing going on tonight.”
Shota’s mood soured, “if you will excuse us princess, I need to speak with Katsuki in private.”
“No problem, Mr. Aizawa,” Ochako grinned, “take as long as you need. Mina and I are going to get my hands clean too!”
Eijiro spoke up, “sir, can I come too? I still need to clean the blood off of his hands…”
The older man paused, “ah yes, you’re the servant assigned to work with this one? What’s your name?”
“Eijiro, sir”
“Nice you meet you,” Shota acknowledged him with a handshake out of respect before he gave the young man orders, “You can take care of him while we talk.”
Eijiro beamed with pride, no one had ever shook his hand like that before!
“I’m on it, sir.”
Shota stopped abruptly once he found a secluded area to knock some sense into his mentee.
“What in the world is going on?”
Katsuki hissed in pain as Eijiro disinfected the wound on his palm, “I should be asking that.”
“Answer me first.”
“No. You.”
Aizawa took a deep breath, ran his palms down his face, and glowered at the future general, “you’re acting like a child.”
“Ow. Watch it, would ya?” Katuski chastised as he pulled his hand away from Eijiro
“Well maybe if you stood still, SIR,” Eijiro replied, seeming just as exhausted as Shota was, “it wouldn’t hurt so much,” he snatched Katsuki’s hand and resumed his task.
“You little—”
“ENOUGH,” Shota was whisper-yelling, both boys felt daggers shoot from his eyes into their very souls and shut their little mouths faster than they could open them, “Katsuki. I already told you that I understand why you are frustrated, but you can’t disrespect the princess like that.”
“And why not?” Katsuki argued, “it’s not like she can kick my ass anyways.” Eijiro paused his ministrations, surprised at Katuski’s improper vocabulary.
“First of all, watch your language,” Shota struck the blonde on the back of the head. “Second of all, there is nothing you can do to change your current circumstances. I’ve heard many good things about the princess. Perhaps you can learn a thing or two from her, you brat.”
Katsuki’s eyes watered out of anger, “You sound like the hag,” his uninjured hand balled into a fist.
“If you want my respect, you need to earn it,” Shota warned as he snatched Katsuki by the collar, “because if you don’t? I will make you do twice as much classwork as the princess and cut back on your swordsman training for an entire month.” He then let Katsuki go.
Katsuki stood silent as Eijiro finished wrapping his hand. “There ya go,” he whispered with trepidation, “all done.”
Shota took notice of the red head’s reaction to his anger. “You don’t have to worry about getting the same punishment as the one you serve,” his eyes softened as he spoke. “We don’t adhere to those uncivilized traditions. However, you will be held to the same standards when it comes to training and schooling, understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
Shota took a moment to readjust Katsuki’s cravat, “now that we are done here, get back to the celebration. I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.” He left the boys behind to search for the largest serving of ale he could find.
“Um. Katuski?”
“What is it?”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” Katsuki lied. “Let’s get back to the damn party,” he paused, “and don’t you dare snitch on me for cussing, alright Shitty Hair?”
“Whatever. I grew up around barbarians,” Eijiro laughed.
Katsuki grinned, “I guess we could get along after all.”
Shota didn’t lie about seeing them bright and early. He banged on Katsuki's door to wake him up at 6:45 AM. “Get up, Katsuki. It’s time for training,” Shota paused to listen for proof that Katsuki was awake.
Katsuki groaned, stretching his arms above his head. “On it, where do you want me to go?”
“Head to the armory at 8. We’re starting with swordsman training first.” He left to wake up Eijiro next.
Katsuki smiled broadly, swordsmanship was his favorite subject.
As expected, Katsuki showed up to the armory 45 minutes early so he could watch the knights train, “I wish I was with them instead…” he huffed, leaning against the wall while absorbing as much knowledge as possible as the knights drilled.
“Good Morning Katsuki!” Eijiro beamed, arriving not long after Katuski did.
“‘Mornin’,” Katsuki responded, “I thought I would be the only one here this early.”
“My dad taught me that being on time means you’re late,” Eijiro explained. “‘Sides I’ve got nothing else better to do.”
They stood in comfortable silence for a moment before they started sharing their thoughts about the training in front of them.
“You see how he parried that?”
“Woah, that was some quick footwork.”
Before they knew it, 30 minutes had passed as they enjoyed each other’s company. They were in the middle of laughing at a joke when the Princess and Mina arrived.
“What’s so funny, you guys?” Mina asked, announcing her and Ochako’s arrival.
“Good morning, Princess Ochako! Good Morning, Mina!” Eijiro bowed to the Princess and waved at Mina.
“I already told you that you can just call me Ochako when it’s just us, Eiji.” Ochako chuckled. “This Princess stuff is weird enough.”
“Were you guys watching the knights’ physical training?” Mina inquired while stretching in preparation for whatever torture their tutor would be making them endure.
“Yeah, and what’s it to ya, Pinky?” Katsuki grumbled under his breath.
“What was that , BLONDIE?” Mina’s eye twitched and she rolled up her sleeves while Katsuki cracked his knuckles, “oh, it’s on.”
“Guys, stop. What if Mr. Aizawa sees you?” Eijiro jumped in between the volatile pair.
“See you doing what?” Shota knew damn well what they were up to. Mina and Katsuki quickly dropped their fists and feigned innocence as Mr. Aizawa approached, “Were you two getting ready to start a fight… on the first day?”
Ochako took the moment to step in, “Oh no Mr. Aizawa, you have it all wrong!”
“Yes, she’s right, they were just showing off their muscles, right guys?” Eijiro elbowed Katsuki, intending to get him in on the white lie.
“It’s too early for this shit…” Shota spoke under his breath, “do you four really think i’m that stupid? I helped raise Katsuki for the first thirteen years of his life, I can tell when he’s even thinking about starting a fight from a mile away.” Despite his monotone style of speaking, Aizawa terrified the absolute hell out of Katsuki and the others.
Aizawa pulled out his pipe, lit it, and inhaled two puffs before speaking, “Since you are so eager to defend each other by lying to me, let’s get you guys started with a light morning jog before we start.” The smile that crept onto his face made Katsuki paralyze in fear, the others noticed and started to worry.
“Alright then, three laps around the castle, since this is your first day of physical training as a group, you have thirty minutes.”
Ochako spoke up, “Mr. Aizawa, that’s three miles.”
Shota chuckled, “And? The clock’s ticking,” he pulled out his pocket watch to make a point, “You should start running.”
Under NORMAL circumstances in other kingdoms, the way Shota spoke to the Princess would have earned him a death sentence. In the Kingdom of Merglin however; this type of treatment was encouraged by the King and Queen. They wanted to raise a daughter who would practice humility. What better way to have her learn than to have her treated as a civilian instead of royalty at times?
This was one of the few times that Ochako wished she could use her royal status to get out of doing a task. She loathed running with a passion. She felt herself spiraling into misery until Mina laid a hand on her shoulder, “come on, Ochako. We can do this together.”
Ochako nodded in response and the two set off to catch up with the boys who had a 45 second start.
“Keep up, Princess!” Katsuki shouted over his shoulder before chuckling to himself
“Come on, man,” Eijiro said in exasperation, “can’t you just drop it already?”
“Shut up. I don’t want a weak ass Queen in the future.”
Eijiro wanted to respond, but opted to change the subject and challenged Katsuki, “bet I can beat you to the first mile mark.”
Without a word, the boys began sprinting full-speed ahead. Ochako couldn’t help how she erupted into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Mina was curious, she ALWAYS wanted to know what was funny.
“Oh nothing, I was just thinking about the look that Katsuki is going to have on his face when we beat him.” Ochako remarked, as cocky as she could sound.
“How is that?!” Mina shrieked, “Look how far ahead they are!”
“ Because , they aren’t pacing themselves like we are,” Ochako explained, “my daddy used to make me run all the time and he taught me how to pace myself!”
“So slow and steady does win the race!”
“Exactly, my friend.” Ochako was going to win.
Ochako’s premonition turned out to be true as she and Mina ran past Eijiro and Katsuki while they were dry-heaving in the grass near the end of the trail. This allowed the girls to get further ahead and finish their three miles in 29 minutes and 30 seconds. The boys barely made the cut at 29 minutes and 55 seconds.
Ochako and Mina opted to wait until the boys made it to the finish line before they celebrated their win with an obnoxious high-five.
“Well then, Katsuki and Eijiro,” Shota spoke with slight disappointment in his voice still leaning against the armory, “you two second-rate speed demons could learn how to pace yourselves” he took another puff of his pipe, blowing the smoke out into the passing wind.
Ochako and Mina smirked at the boys until Shota directed his attention to them, “you two, on the other hand, were lazy with your pacing. You could have run faster if you actually challenged yourselves.”
Ochako caught Katsuki’s face out of the corner of her eye and saw that he decided it was his turn to smirk.
Shota went back to addressing all of them at once, ”I want you to aim higher than the bare minimum. Your goal is 28 minutes. You have a month to make it happen.”
Shota pushed the four of them through a rigorous first day of swordsmanship. His students were assigned to work with wooden swords made for small adults instead of allowing them to use the kids' sizes.
After the four kids endured over three hours of drilling, footwork, and calisthenics,Shota finally let them take a break longer than 5 minutes.
“We’ll break for lunch now,” he announced, “be back by 1:00.”
The kids had been laying in the grass for five minutes, trying to calm their erratic breathing, and pounding hearts when Ochako spoke up first, “I heard that the kitchens made amazing desserts for the lunch menu today,” she sat up on her elbows so everyone could hear her, “let’s spend our break together!”
“Oh my gosh, dessert sounds amazing right now, Ochako,” Mina groaned, her forearm blocking her eyes from the sun and protecting them from the sweat dripping off of her bangs.. Out of everyone she had the best footwork, but lacked enough upper body strength to properly wield a sword. Shota made her do extra push-ups and encouraged her to do a minimum of 100 total every day.
“I’m with you on that, Mina. I bet I could eat an entire cheesecake by myself right about now,” Eijiro had the opposite problem of Mina. He had plenty of strength from years of working on farmland, but was born with two left feet. His footwork was terrible enough that Shota assigned him to learn a jazz square by Friday afternoon.
“Tsk. Desserts aren’t going to help you extras get any better,” Katsuki scoffed. He was used to Shota’s training regime, and regardless of his setback of his poor running time, he excelled in all of the events, “what you need is some real food. I’m going to town to eat. See you guys later.”
He stood up, brushed off the grass from his pants, and walked away from the group with his hands in his pockets.
Eijiro stood up immediately to follow him, but not before shooting the ladies an apologetic look, “wait up man, we gotta use the buddy system!”
Once the boys were out of earshot, Mina got up and gave Ochako a hand to assist her, “those two are going to cause a lot of trouble, aren’t they?”
“I suppose they will, but I could join them,” Ochako shrugged, “I've never been to the market by myself before.”
“Well, if they’re allowed to go, I guess we could?” Mina suggested, “if we have a guard, right?”
“As if any of the guards would want to be on babysitting duty”, Ochako grabbed Mina’s hand and lightly dragged her towards the secret exit she had found exploring castle grounds one day.
“This tunnel will lead us straight into town,” Ochako proclaimed with confidence, placing her hands on her hips, “all we need to do is get there, meet up with the boys, get our food, and then come back without getting caught.”
Mina pondered for a moment, “If we get caught… we’ll get into BIG trouble, but I guess avoiding getting caught makes it more of an adventure! Let’s go!”
Ochako leapt for joy, “Awesome!”
The girls journeyed through the dark tunnels before they made it to an abandoned alley through a secret door. Unfortunately, that door led to a dangerous part of town and the girls were unaware they were being followed as they walked out of the alley way.
Eijiro and Katsuki made it to the market and explored the many food options that were available. One stand sold fried festival foods all year long. Ejirou chose to order two servings of takoyaki, a serving of karaage, and a serving of tomorokoshi, because “dad said that veggies make you big and strong!”
Katsuki wanted something hot to warm up his body in the dead of winter, so he opted for spicy miso ramen with an extra slice of pork. It was exactly what he needed after a tough day of training. The broth felt like it immediately soothed his muscles and restored the blood flow in his fingers and toes.
The boys had chosen to eat while standing and leaning against a wall. They felt like if they sat down, they wouldn’t be able to get back up! They had never felt this tired in their whole lives.
“Wow Katsuki, that really hit the spot!” Eijiro rubbed his belly, “I don’t think I have any room for dessert back at the castle.”
“You shouldn’t eat so many sweets anyways,” Katsuki replied, “my mom said too much of it is bad for your teeth.”
Eijiro wiped a fake tear, “how will i ever find happiness again?”
They made their way to the market exit with plenty of time left to make it back to the castle by 1 pm. Things were going well until they heard a familiar voice, “let go of her, you old man!”
Katuski’s eyes widened, “Was that Mina?” Without another word, Eijiro joined him and they sprinted towards where they heard the voice coming from, and picked up their pace even more once they heard who they thought was the Princess, screaming. Once they found the alley, they came to a screeching halt only to witness Mina and Ochako backed into a corner by a homeless teenager tightly gripping Ochako by her wrist while Mina desperately tried to break his grip, “i’ll let her go once she gives me that pretty little comb in her hair!” The teen chuckled darkly, sending a shiver down Ochako’s spine.
“No! It was a gift!” Ochako shrieked before taking her free hand and slapping the man across the face, leaving Katuski impressed.
She’s got some guts.
Immediately, he was snapped out of his thoughts when the man threw Mina off and proceeded to lift Ochako off the ground by her throat. The boys took that moment to attack.Eijiro tackled the man to the ground, forcing him to let go of the Princess while Katsuki caught her before she hit the ground.
“Hey Katsuki. You came.” Ochako was barely awake, still recovering from the panic of being without oxygen for a few moments, she coughed hard a few times before Katuski laid her down safely, “i’ll be right back, you stay there.”
Katsuki made his way over to Eijiro, who had been joined by Mina. The two of them had managed to knock the older boy out.
“Mina, get a police officer so they can take care of this jerk.”
“On it.”
“Ei, keep an eye on that guy and let me know if he wakes up, I'm going to go check on Ochako.”
Katsuki now understood why Shota had placed him into so many hypothetical scenarios for an entire year before it was time for him to go to the castle. It helped him out big time today. Sure, he may have had a rougher childhood than most to prepare for this position, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way. His great grandfather helped overthrow a king. It was in his blood to lead.
He knelt down beside Ochako, checking her body for bruises when he noticed she had cuts on her face, “Princess, I'm so sorry I wasn’t here. What happened?”
Even with her lips bleeding, she found the energy to smile, “If I was only a little bigger, I would have had him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, when that creep first came up to us, I punched him in the face pretty hard and kicked him in the ribs. It wasn’t enough to knock him out, so I took some hits I guess.”
“Where’d you learn how to fight?” Katsuki was shocked that a PRINCESS would know how to kickbox.
Ochako chuckled and winced in pain,, “Daddy made me take classes to learn how to defend myself in case you weren’t around. He said I had to be prepared for as many bad things as possible.”
Tears sprang to her eyes, “I was so scared, Katsuki. I wanted to be brave, but I was so fragile.” She hugged Katsuki tightly as she sobbed into her shoulder.
“Ain’t nothing frail about you, Princess.” He whispered.
“I told you to stop calling me that!” Ochako sniffled.
“What do you want then?”
“You could always make up a nickname!”
“Fine. Cheeks it is.”
“Cheeks?” Ochako was confused.
“Yeah. Because of these,” he pinched her cheek to emphasize the point.
“Ugh. I guess that’s better than Princess.”
The two became embarrassed once they realized they were still wrapped in each other’s arms. Katsuki coughed nervously as he stood up and offered his hand to assist Ochako. They stood side by side as they waited for Mina to return with the police.
“Hey Cheeks.”
“Yeah.”
“Let me see the comb I gave you really quick.”
Ochako was perplexed by where the conversation was going, “What do you need it for?”
“I just wanna show you something so hand it over.”
She removed the comb from her hair, “Here you go.”
Katsuki took it and revealed a secret found in the comb, “I chose this comb in particular because it came with a hidden knife. I wanted to get you a practical gift. None of that stereotypical stuff like an oil painting for your room or some shit.”
Ochako giggled, “explain why a whole knife in my hair comb is practical, Katsuki.”
“Because you’ll be able to defend yourself more effectively with a knife.”
“True,” Ochako nodded.
An awkward silence followed before Katsuki replied, “it’s good for you to have then I can’t get to where you are in time,” he demonstrated how to put the knife away when not in use, “then again I don't plan on leaving your side like that again…”
“I might like both someday.”
“What do you mean?”
“I like having a knife, and I’m sure that once we get to know each other better, I'll learn to like you too!”