Chapter Text
Yuuji and his father never got along. They just never saw eye to eye and that wasn't because Yuuji was only 3 '11. He was 7 for crying out loud. Give him a break. Despite the dispute they often had, Lord Kenjaku of the kingdom of Sendai had decided that it was high time to teach his young son how to tame and ride a horse for the first time in his life.
Just as they got the old barn stable that was located out of the castle grounds they were met with a tall, black haired man who had a scar on the side of his lip. They left the small carriage. Kenjaku exited first and Yuuji shortly followed his fathers steps.
“So what's the king doing here?” The man questioned, rubbing the back of his neck with his rough hand.
“I’m teaching my son to ride a horse so we’ll be using the ones here. I will hand you a hefty compensation for arriving so abruptly." Kenjaku told Toji.
“I don't care, do what you want.” The long haired man grabbed Yuuji's hand and swiftly dragged him over to the front of the stables.
“Go and pick any horse you want, just make sure it's decent enough for a prince,” He ordered. Yuuji looked up to meet his eyes. He shook his hand free of the older man's grasp and ran into the barn.
As he ran through the hay he noticed the red paint slowly coming off the wooden walls. The place smelled like cow dung and dirty dog water. There was no way he would be able to find a horse here. Instead, he ran past a small boy who looked around the same as Yuuji himself. He had black hair and the coolest green eyes that the prince had ever seen. Even if he had barely seen any green eyes, these by far took the title as winner for being the deepest, most rich eyes he had seen in his entire 7 years of living.
“Hey,” Yuuji said.
“Uh, hey.” Replied the other boy.
“Whatchu got there?” He asked. Looking over the newfound boy's shoulder and trying to get a better look at whatever he had in his hands.
“I'm making rope. Wanna try?” The boy offered up a mixture of cotton and straw. “You gotta start like this.” He demonstrated the beginning, moving over to make room for the new person in the room. “And continue weaving it like this. After a while, you should have some length for it to be usable.”
“That's so cool! So you just make it in the back here? My teacher usually gets some at the shops down in the town square. I've always wondered how it was made.” Yuuji sheepishly admitted. He crawled closer to Megumi and took the straw and cotton from his hands. Both of the children sat on the hay that was laid on the ground and spent their time weaving the handmade rope.
Hours had passed by this point, and both Yuuji and Megumi were talking to each other in a rhythmic conversation.
“Why do you wear those clothes? I mean, they have holes in them, so why don't you get new ones? Wouldn't it be warmer?” Yuuji curiously asked Megumi. The other boy looked away from Yuuji to face his piece of rope.
“I mean, I guess we just can't really afford it right now. Dad's fighting off some loan sharks and the farm's struggling a bit." Yuuji looked over Megumi, taking in the sight of his old and ragged clothes that looked like they were thinner than a nail clipping. He took off the jacket he was wearing and threw it over to Megumi. The black haired boy caught the fur-lined jacket in his small hands and looked up at Yuuji.
“Why are you doing it?” Megumi interrogated Yuuji. The slightly older just stood up from where he was sitting and walked over to the slightly opened door.
“Giving you my jacket so you can have something nice! What's mine is the people. See ya later!” He replied with a smile. He scattered from the door and swiftly left the barn to look for his father. Megumi leapt from his spot on the floor and grabbed the door, ripping it open.
“Wait! What do you mean by that?” Megumi called out, but by the time he even got to the door, Yuuji had already left the building. “Damnit.” He mumbled. He could try to catch up to the boy, but he doubted he would be able to see the boy ever again. Suddenly, the sound of Large footsteps came up from behind Megum
“The hell are you doing now? Hey, where did you get that jacket? Did you steal it? Like father, like son and shit I guess then.” Toji muttered.
“Hell no. I'm not you." Megumi spat. The short child turned from his father and dashed out of the barn to see if he could spot Yuuji from the front doors, but alas, he was too far away. He could only get a glimpse of Yuuji before he stepped back into the carriage to go back to wherever he came from.
When Yuuji sat down on the cushioned seat, Kenjaku took a single look at him and raised a question.
“You didn't like any of the horses? Where's your jacket?”
“They didn't have any horses in the stable I checked. Also, I suppose I was just too hot and took the jacket off, then forgot about it. I'm sorry.” The young boy looked down and straightened his back as He apologised to his father. Despite his apology, Kenjaku raised a hand and slapped him on the back of the head. A purple mark started to form already as Yuuji held in the tears that slowly welled in his eyes.
“Stupid boy. Making me do more than I need to.” The king muttered. “Why are you so useless? You're supposed to be the better one out of your bastard brothers, and you can't even manage to remember to get your jacket? Pathetic.” He scolded Yuuji. The young prince just avoided eye contact as much as he could until they were able to return to the castle.
“What were you doing with all that time? There’s no reason that you would waste all that time simply looking around.”
“There was this other kid there, and I guess we just got along. He didn't seem too bad.” Kenjaku stared at Yuuji coldly, and the boy felt like all of his bones were slowly freezing from the man's glare.
“I’ll make sure you don't waste my time again with some filthy monkey then.”