Disclaimer: The author of this fanfiction does not, in any way, profit from the story. All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).
The Reclamation of Paralon
by Pout
Chapter 5: Desserts and Dilemmas
Their discussion was cut short and put off for a few days when a messenger arrived with news of some problems in the city. Shishido cursed the Kisarazu twins and left to go straighten things out with Ootori accompanying him. Kamio and Momoshiro followed, hoping to see the twins in action. Meanwhile, Tezuka and Fuji went to inspect Ellestor’s quarter guard. They had to make sure security was thoroughly fortified since the kingdom’s Royal Heir was now residing at the manor.
This left Oishi, Kaidoh, Inui and Eiji with nothing in particular to occupy their time. Inui was just about to pounce on the lone street rat for the continuation of his interview concerning street sign language when Oishi abruptly jumped in to save the unsuspecting redhead.
“Kikumaru, could I speak to you for a moment?”
Eiji, unaware of the danger he had been in, simply nodded and wondered if he was in trouble.
Kaidoh let out a hissing sigh. “I’m going on a jog.”
“Ah, I’ll join you,” Inui said, not the slightest bit disturbed that his interrogation had been thwarted; there would always be another time.
“See you later, then,” Oishi said as he hastily led Eiji away. They eventually found themselves strolling through Ellestor’s famed gardens.
Eiji looked over at his companion feeling nervous at the calm countenance the other man displayed. “Er, was there something you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked.
Oishi looked suddenly a bit surprised, as if he had thoroughly forgotten there was someone beside him. “Oh, that was just to stop Inui. He was about to… Um, never mind. It was nothing important.”
Eiji’s left brow went up but he kept silent, which was really very hard for him.
“Where are you from? Or have you always lived in Geddervont?” the prince asked.
Eiji shook his head. “No, actually, I was born in a town just south of Haberia. We moved to the city when I was three.”
“Do you have a big family?”
“I have a huge family: a bunch of sisters and brothers. I’m the youngest.”
“Did you get along?” Oishi asked as he fiddled with a carnation.
Eiji nodded. “Yeah. It was crazy with so many of us in one house, but it was fun.”
Oishi smiled, then asked, “So then how did you become… I mean, how did you end up in Geddervont?”
“When I turned nine, I ran away from home.”
“Why did you do that?”
Eiji shrugged and knelt to examine a caterpillar on the ground. “We would have been fine if not for the uprising and the famine. There were too many of us in that house. Mom and Dad were always working and they started to fight. There were just too many mouths to feed, so I cut them short one.”
“You must miss them.”
Eiji nudged the caterpillar along as it stalled in the middle of the road. “It’s been a while since I went back. I went back when I was 13, just to see. They were doing fine.”
“Then you could have-”
“My father never tolerated disobedient behavior. I don’t think they’d really want me back.”
There was a stretch of silence before Oishi said, “You never know.”
They walked the entirety of the garden before a servant boy found them and they went back in for lunch. They ate alone since Inui and Kaidoh had apparently decided to run until they dropped dead from exhaustion.
As they ate, they conversed and Eiji was slowly persuaded to call the prince by name.
After lunch, they went on a tour of the manor, spending a good amount of time in the armory and the library.
Oishi discovered that Eiji was exuberant and unendingly energetic. Eiji learned that Oishi was calm, but also warm and friendly. He also learned that the Royal Heir was highly preoccupied with worry, over many things, but mostly concerning his kingdom and the impending fight to take it back.
“What’s your relationship with your father like?” Eiji asked at one point while they were walking down Ellestor’s Hall of Portraits. They had stopped in front of a painting of a lord and his son, both smiling contentedly.
Oishi frowned and took on a distressed look and Eiji wondered if he had gone too far in asking something so personal. He was about to take it back when the prince answered, “It’s an odd relationship. When I was younger, I just thought of him as my father and I loved him and looked up to him just like any other child would. But I went off to the Academy and I spent most of my time there. We were never that close to begin with, but we just grew more and more distant. Then I realized that the assassination attempts were his doing, and that he was taking over, and…” He stopped himself and shook his head. “It’s always been hard for me to accept that my father wants to kill me.”
“But he’s not really your father, right? The First Consort died just after you were born.”
“But I never knew him.” Oishi shook his head. “My father will always be the man who sits on my throne and conspires against me.”
Eiji could see the darkness spreading across the other man’s demeanor and quickly switched gears. “So what is it that you people learn in the Academy anyway?”
The darkness rescinded for the time being and Oishi responded to the question by telling Eiji humorous anecdotes about the professors he had encountered at the grand institution.
Fuji and Tezuka joined them for dinner, but Kaidoh and Inui, who had come back from their run and promptly trudged up to their rooms, were too exhausted to come back down. After the meal, Fuji and Tezuka went to take a more thorough look at the security around the manor and Eiji was again left alone with the prince. They stayed in the parlor downstairs, gorging on the sweet desserts the house hands kept feeding them.
“I’m so stuffed, I don’t think I can move!” Eiji declared after the last bite of a raspberry tart. On the opposite couch, Oishi was sprawled out, one hand on his stomach, the other over his eyes. Eiji laughed suddenly, causing the prince to look up questioningly.
“You have cream on your cheek.” Oishi wiped at his face with a napkin, but Eiji shook his head. “The other side,” he giggled.
Oishi smiled. “You should take a look at yourself. I haven’t said anything,” the prince teased, “but you’ve had chocolate on your nose for at least a half hour.”
Eiji crawled upright with an exasperated expression on his face as he scrubbed at his nose. “How mean! At least I told you when I saw it! Chocolate? That chocolate cake was three plates ago!”
Oishi gave a full bellied laugh then cringed and lay back. “I’ve given myself a stomach ache.”
And that was how Kaidoh found them twenty minutes later when he came down to look for something to eat. He and Inui had somehow gotten into an endurance race and had gone clear around the city on their ‘jog.’ They had stumbled back through the gate four hours earlier, both too worn out to even decide who had won.
Kaidoh walked into the parlor and stared openly at the two gluttons passed out on the two couches. “What happened to you two?” he asked in his politest gruff tone.
Oishi removed the forearm that was draped across his eyes to address him. “You’re up. How was your run? Are you hungry? There’s some pie left.”
“Don’t mention the pie,” Eiji groaned as he clutched his tummy.
“We’ve been eating desserts for, oh, two hours, I think,” Oishi said with a coy smile. Across from him, Eiji let out another tortured groan.
“Pass me that cake,” Kaidoh said as he went to sit at the foot of Oishi’s couch.
“Me, too.”
Oishi laughed. “Eiji! Eat any more and you’ll explode.”
“We can test that theory right now. Can you pass the pie, too?”
“Uh oh. Did someone feed Eiji sugar?” came a voice from the atrium. A head peeked in. “Shoot. That’s gonna keep him up all night,” Momoshiro said.
“Is there any left?” Kamio called out.
The two street rats came into the parlor and inspected the remaining desserts as they sat themselves down.
“The pie’s mine, Kamio,” Eiji whined.
“Huh. One day in the lap of luxury and already he’s a greedy pig.”
“Give it back! I licked it! I swear I did.”
“What’s going on in here?” Shishido and Ootori strode through the open door looking weary and harassed.
“How did it go? Was it those twins again?” Oishi asked.
Shishido shook his head as he plopped down onto a couch, scooting to make room for his partner. He began to massage his neck with one hand before Ootori took over. “We need to change things, Oishi. The Regent is getting out of hand.”
“What happened?”
“He’s redistributing land. There’s a merchant ship docked at my pier right now, with a deed for a plot off the west end of the city.”
“What?” Oishi said, shocked.
“It’s old housing. Run down, at best. But people live there,” Shishido sighed.
“The Stack o’ Cards?” Eiji murmured to his friends. They nodded.
“That can’t be right,” Oishi said, the lines on his forehead wrinkling. “The crown doesn’t have the power to issue land grants for provincial territories.”
“The Free Land Act, issued two months ago,” Shishido said with a grimace.
“Doesn’t it require reasonable cause?”
“Apparently it’s part of his crime reduction policy. Because everyone knows that if you kick a bunch of people out of their houses, it’ll reduce burglary since they won’t have houses to steal from!”
“Calm down, Shishido,” Ootori said soothingly. “Your shoulders are knotting up again.”
“I have no rights to my own land!” Shishido shouted. He burst out of his seat and began to pace slowly across the floor.
“So what was the outcome?”
“The damn merchant tried to get a settlement out of me! He wanted me to pay him for my own land! Arg!!”
“I think he’s the one who’s gonna explode,” Eiji whispered to himself.
Ootori sighed as he watched his lover pace. “We’re to meet up with the merchant again tomorrow in the afternoon once a decision is made.”
“What are you going to do?” Oishi asked.
“I don’t know!” Shishido snapped. He pulled up mid stride and sighed. “Sorry.” He rubbed his temples and shook his head again. “This is driving me nuts. We got mobbed by the tenants of the complex when we were riding back. Gods, there were kids, you know?” He turned on his heel and exited the room with Ootori following slowly.
“It was really bad,” Momo said when they had left. “There’re tons of people living there.”
Kamio nodded as he finished off a slice of lemon cake. “Yeah, and they want to set up a silk house instead.” Eiji snorted. Oishi looked confused so Kamio explained: “Silk shops usually double as whore houses. He probably didn’t want to mention it in front of you, Your Majesty.”
“I thought it was ‘Your Highness,’” Momo said.
“Really?”
“Please, just call me Oishi.” They shrugged, nodded, and silently agreed to just not call him anything. It would take time for them to get used to the company of a royal.
“What do you think he’ll do?” Kamio asked, looking at the prince sideways out the corner of his eye.
Oishi shook his head. “I don’t know. There isn’t a lot he can do to protest the deed, but Shishido hates to lose. He’ll put it off until the deadline. I think he’ll pay, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
“We’re gonna go up. Very tired,” Kamio said as he stood, gesturing to the street rats. Momo gave Eiji a hand up and they said goodnight to the other two men before following Kamio out of the room.
“What’s going on?” Eiji said quietly as they headed for the front entrance.
Momoshiro looked over at him with a sober grin on his face: “We’ve got a meeting with the Kisarazu twins.”
If you would like to provide feedback on this story, please feel free to e-mail me at: poutonly@gmail.com.