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“Stupid boy, your stance is all wrong! How do you expect to serve the royal family if you aren’t taking this seriously?”
Flinching at the rough exclamation, Hinata tightened his grip on his sword. Sweat dripped down his brow and he could feel his muscles protesting from the long hours of training. They had been training since dawn and it was nearing noon now. And yet, there was no sign of them coming to a stop. He didn’t feel himself doing anything different, and yet everything that he did was wrong in the eyes of his trainer.
Gritting his teeth, he bent down and slashed his sword out, loud shout leaving his mind as the blade sliced through the air. He heard a rough sigh leave his trainer’s mouth and Hinata could feel tears of frustration starting to come to his eyes. Relaxing his position, he wiped his arm across his face, wiping away tears that threatened to fall.
“Let’s just stop today. I don’t know what’s going through that idiotic mind of your’s, but you had better clean up your act tomorrow.” His trainer walked off without a moment’s hesitation, anger present in his form.
Hinata bit his bottom lip harshly, feeling blood starting to well as his teeth broke the skin. A tear slipped through his defenses, causing the rest to fall out behind them. His hand moved up, covering his face to hide his tears. This wasn’t the first time that his training sessions ended like this. It’s been happening more and more lately, and he had no idea why. He wasn’t really doing anything considerably different. But it just felt as though he had come across some sort of wall.
Sucking in a deep breath, Hinata stared at the dummy sitting a few feet away. More tears fell down his face and his mouth twisted into an angry grimace before he drew out his sword. Letting out a loud yell, he ran towards the dummy, swinging his sword in multiple directions. He felt his sword slice through the fabric of the dummy, tearing it apart bit by bit.
Falling to his knees, Hinata finally let all of his tears fall, hands digging into the dirt underneath him. His sobs echoed throughout the empty training field, making him thankful that a festival was going on that day, so no one else was on the castle grounds, save for him and perhaps a few maids. No one that he knew would see him utterly breaking down.
His family had been serving the royal family for several generations. Every member of his family had been a part of the army in some way, whether as retainers for the royal family or as first line soldiers. There was pride on the line for him, since he was the only one left of his family carrying on the family line. His parents were alive no longer, killed in battle long ago and he had no siblings to account for. There was a pressure for him to be something great, with his father being a commander of the king’s army before his death.
And here he was, facing a mental wall that was affecting his training to the point where he was apparently slipping.
Hinata was too caught up with his spiraling thoughts to hear someone walking onto the training field. It wasn’t until he felt a rough hand on the back of his head that he choked on a sob, jumping harshly before turning around. His eyes widened in horror as he looked up at Lord Takumi, the boy staring down at him with shocked eyes.
Wiping his face hastily, Hinata stood up, quickly bowing to the young prince. “L-Lord Takumi! I-I didn’t know that you were here!” he stammered out, voice croaking in shame.
Takumi just stared at him incredulously before he shook his head. “I figured as much. I’m supposed to be at the festival, but I got bored. Oboro told me that you were training here today, so I came to see how you were doing,” he explained. A serious expression came to his face in an instant and he moved forward, pressing a hand to Hinata’s cheek. “Are you alright?”
Hinata just stared at the prince for a moment, mouth opening to say yes, when an arrow shot through the air between them. Neither male moved, eyes wide in horror. Hinata watched as Takumi looked out of the corner of his eyes in the direction that the arrow had gone to, seeing that the arrow was sticking in the remains of the dummy.
Snapping his head in the other direction, Hinata watched as three soldiers jumped across the fence, weapons drawn at them. Without hesitation, Hinata stood in front of Takumi, sword drawn in response. He recognized the uniforms that the men wore as those from Nohr, and a feeling of anger and disgust went through his body. He had heard that Nohrians were a cowardly bunch, preferring to attack from the shadows and overwhelm their enemies. But he never thought that any of them would have been actually had the guts to invade Hoshido, and especially the castle to attack someone of the royal family.
“Why are you Nohrian dogs here?! This is a breach of the treaty!” Hinata shouted, gritting his teeth.
Instead of responding, the archer just loaded another arrow before firing it, this time right at Hinata. Grabbing Lord Takumi’s hand, he dragged both of them out of the way. Growling in anger, Hinata got into his stance. Nobody would harm Takumi while under his watch. It was his duty as a member of his family to protect his Lord. His life had no meaning if he couldn’t protect him.
Charging at the men, Hinata jumped in the air, bringing his sword down and striking down the archer quickly. The man let out a loud groan, almost otherworldly, before falling to the ground. He saw the swordsman in the group coming after him. Turning to face the swordsman, he brought his sword up to block the attack, being pushed back by the force of the attack. Smirking in response, he pushed the man away.
“Are all your Nohrian’s this weak? I’m surprised you had the guts to attack my Lord if you can’t even take one attack of my sword,” Hinata taunted before running forward, thrusting his sword forward to impale the swordsman right in his chest. A gurgle of pain came from the man and Hinata drew out his sword, watching as the man fell to the ground as well.
A feeling of satisfaction went through Hinata’s body and he was about to sheath his sword when he heard footsteps behind him. Narrowing his eyes, he turned around, eyes widening in shock as a naginata sliced right past his face, mere centimeters away from his eye. The blade made a shallow cut to his left cheek and he stumbled back, tripping over his feet. Hinata’s breath caught in his throat as the man jumped into the air, both hands gripping his naginata as he let gravity take him down. The naginata was aimed right at his throat and for some reason, he found himself frozen.
The next moment seemed to pass by in slow motion. One moment, Hinata’s life was passing by right in front of his eyes and the next, a flash of light came from the corner of his eyes before a bright arrow shot the naginata-wielder right in the head, causing the man to drop his naginata several feet away.
Letting out a rough breath, Hinata looked over towards Takumi, who was wielding his Fujin Yumi. For a split second, Hinata couldn’t help but stare at his Lord in awe. It wasn’t news that Takumi had been training to be an archer. But Hinata himself had never actually seen the other male wield his bow. It was a frightening, yet beautiful sight.
“Hinata! Are you alright!” Takumi asked quickly, checking him over quickly.
Shutting his mouth in an instant, Hinata just nodded his head, letting out a breathless laugh. “Yes, Lord Takumi. I’m fine. I’m just fine,” he said, more laughs leaving his mouth.
Takumi and Hinata sat side by side, shoulders bumping against each other as they looked at Lady Mikoto. The queen was discussing the attack from earlier with Ryouma, both of them trying to figure out how Nohrians were able to invade the castle without anyone noticing. There was blistering anger on Ryouma’s face, the older male wanting nothing more than to forgo the shaky peace treaty and start war with Nohr. However, Lady Mikoto remained calm throughout the entire discussion, even though there was a spark of worry in her eyes.
“Now now Ryouma. What is important right now it securing our border while making sure that no more units have made their way into the castle and the kingdom. We should take the time to remain of sound mind. We do not want to be walking into a situation that we can not handle,” Lady Mikoto said, standing up and walking over to her son.
“But Mother! They attacked my brother, and one of our people! They invaded our land with the intent to do harm! This is a breach of the treaty and deserves to be punished!” Ryouma exclaimed.
“And I understand that son. But right now, our priority is our people, and making sure that they are safe. We will handle the treaty with Nohr when it is time to do so,” Mikoto said, voice just as gentle as before, but with a particular sternness that didn’t allow for any more backtalk.
Grimancing, Ryouma bowed his head in silent apology before nodding his head. “Yes Mother. I understand. I’m sorry for questioning you.”
Giving a sweet smile, Mikoto placed a comforting hand on her son’s shoulder. “It is fine, Ryouma. I understand that you are just worried about our family and our kingdom. But you must not allow your anger to blind your judgement, my child.”
Nodding in understand, Ryouma moved to walk out of the room. On his way out, he pressed a comforting hand to Takumi and Hinata’s shoulders. The door shut behind them and the room fell silent before Lady Mikoto let out a soft sigh.
“I am glad that you two are fine. You two gave us quite the scare,” Mikoto remarked, kneeling down in front of them.
“We’re sorry for worrying you, Mother,” Takumi said softly.
“It is fine, Takumi. The only thing that matters is that you two are safe. Although I must say that I was surprised to hear that you two took care of the intruders with little difficulty,” Mikoto said, although she didn’t seem surprised in the least.
Both males flushed at the compliment. But before Hinata could say anything, Takumi scratched the back of his head. “Well, it was actually Hinata who took most of the men out.”
Hinata looked over at Takumi in shock, mouth falling open in surprise. Mikoto looked at her son, eyes widening for a split second before a smile came to her face. “Is that so? Well, I’m glad to hear that you’ve found meaning in our way of fighting, Hinata.”
Looking over to Lady Mikoto, Hinata furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “What?”
“Your trainer has pointed out that some have come to some sort of wall lately. I discussed the situation with Ryouma, since he is better versed in these matters than I am. He mentioned that you didn’t seem to have a purpose for fighting, other than it being your family duty.”
Hearing the words, Hinata stared blankly at Lady Mikoto before he mentally went back to that battle. Now that he thought about it, it had felt as though he had been fighting with a new vigor. A new sense of meaning came with that battle. The thought of losing Lord Takumi was one that he didn’t want to imagine.
Hinata looked over towards Takumi, who looked back at him with an inquisitive gaze.
As the two males walked across the field outside the castle, silence floating over them, Hinata couldn’t help but noticed that Takumi hadn’t said a single word to him ever since their meeting with Lady Mikoto. The other male seemed to have something on his mind, but Hinata didn’t want to ask him just in case it would be seen as him overstepping his bounds.
Takumi suddenly came to a stop in the middle of the hallway, causing Hinata to bump into him. Stumbling back, Hinata furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Lord Takumi…?”
“I want to ask you a question, Hinata. What are you fighting for?” Takumi asked suddenly, turning around to face him.
Surprised by the sudden question, he blinked for a moment before scratching the back of his neck. “I…I…,” he trailed off, face flushing slightly. He wasn’t quite sure how to formulate his thoughts without seeming weird to the other male.
But in normal Hinata fashion, that was kind of impossible. “I’m fighting for you, Lord Takumi.”
The two of them just stayed silent, Takumi looked at Hinata as though he grew another head, and Hinata wanting to shove his head in the ground and never come out. A faint flush came to Takumi’s face and he coughed awkwardly before averting his gaze. “O-Oh…well-”
Hinata suddenly cut him off. “I will admit that I have been going day by day feeling as though I was living under the shadow of my family for years. And I didn’t really have a purpose for getting stronger and serving under your family. But once those Nohrian invaders attacked you at the castle…I couldn’t help but want to protect you. Not just because it’s my family duty…but because I felt as though this was what I was meant to do. I hope you don’t see me as too presumptuous, Lord Takumi,” Hinata confessed, face growing hotter by the second
Takumi just stared at him before a small smile came to his face. “…You really are an idiot. But I guess that would make things more interesting in the future.”
“Huh?” Hinata questioned in confusion.
Not saying anything, Takumi opened the door to the weapon shed, which Hinata hadn’t even noticed that they stopped in front of. The other male was gone for a few moments, moving around in the shed for a moment before he walked back out, carrying something wrapped in cloth. Takumi came up to him before stopping.
“I want you to have this, Hinata,” Takumi said, holding out the item to him.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Hinata took the item and slowly undid the rope keeping the cloth wrap in place. He pulled away the wrap and let out a gasp as he revealed a brand new sword. Looking up at Takumi, he moved to hand the sword back before Takumi held up his hands.
“I want you to be my retainer, Hinata. I know that I can’t make you be my retainer against your will, and I probably have to my mother’s permission, but seeing you battle against those Nohrians in the field…It made me feel as though…like we were meant to be fighting close together. I felt as though I could trust you. I hope that you will at least consider,” Takumi confessed, shy smile on his face.
Clutching onto the sword in his hands, Hinata looked at Takumi for a moment before a bright smile came to his face, nodding his head rapidly. He felt tears coming to the edges of his eyes and he bowed several times in thanks. “Yes, of course I’ll be your retainer, Lord Takumi! It would be an honor to serve you!”
Takumi just laughed, placing a hand on Hinata’s head to keep from bowing any more. “You don’t have to thank me. Just promise to do your best.”
“I will, Lord Takumi. I will,” Hinata said, laughing happily.