No matter how many times he tried doing what the instructor told him, he failed those many times and never even made a single improvement. Irritated, he dropped the silver bow on the ground and trashed all the golden arrows everywhere. Everything just wasn’t going the way he wanted.

Despite getting all those comments about the perfect Prince who was smart, had a great personality, and captivated the ladies, he wasn’t half of that at all. He was indeed smart as he picked up on things quite easily and often got comments that he was smarter than his older sister. During the 5th anniversary of the King and Queen’s ruling of the kingdom, he stopped his carriage after seeing an orphan being picked on and he came to her rescue; he was scolded by his parents after that. When his parents held annual balls just so they could find him a suitable princess, all the girls were already crowding in front of him, asking him if they could get married and have children right away. That was all a facade.

When he spent his time learning how to be a future King in the castle, he whined about everything and destroyed half of what was his mother’s precious belongings. Because he was the future King, the present King held back his urge to punish his raging acts. Today wasn’t his day either since all the arrows he tried to shot towards the target were always missed and sometimes went out of range.

“Jun!”

He stopped in his tracks at the sound of his sister’s voice which only added to his anger.

“You’re not a kid anymore! Go and pick up those arrows!”

“The servants will do it,” Jun grumbled, pushing past his glaring sister. “I’ll be in my room.”

For the past few years, he’s hasn’t stopped searching for his childhood friend who never showed up after that day. His friend’s teacher told him that Nino was indeed taken away and they couldn’t do anything about it so he asked his parents to send out their best knights in training. He patiently waited for them to come back, sometimes he would stay up late at night and ended up staying home the next morning. When they came back with some news, it was only about this thief that came from the darkness by the time he turned 15. And when he turned 18, the first crime was committed within their castle walls.

That night, Jun was unable to sleep so he went out to the garden. Despite it being so dark, Jun could see the yellow roses shining brightly as if they glowed every time he looked at them. He couldn’t keep his eyes any longer on them, reminding of the past he missed. Just as he was about to retire back to his room, he heard faint rustling behind him but he ignored it, thinking it was an animal.

When he took a step forward, the rustling sound became louder and this time he went to check it out. He reached his hands forward, expecting a vicious animal to attack him but instead it was something big and dark.

“Huh?” Jun knitted his eyebrows together when he saw human eyes staring at him. For a moment, he thought it looked familiar but something dark came to his face and the next thing he knew, he was being shaken by sister the next morning.

“Jun! Jun! Wake up! Did he get you too?”

“Who?” Jun grunted, scrunching his face together in pain.

“The thief! He’s the one the knights are talking about! I can’t believe he would go to our castle...” She growled, “He has some guts.”

“Did he get caught?”

She shook her head. “He left a trademark at one of our walls and one of our servants saw it this morning.”

Jun stood up. He ignored the pain washing on his face as he rushed inside of the castle and saw a couple of guards trying to wash something out with dirty water. Pushing them aside, he stared at the refined painting of a purple snake with yellow petals around it on the wall. He couldn’t understand the symbolism behind it, or what its supposed to mean.

“Jun, move away. Let the knights do their job.” He snapped from his thoughts when he heard his sister behind him. Taking one last look at the yellow rose, he was taken back to his room and was nursed until he finally took a peaceful nap.

He stared at the painting in his room, the only remaining image he had of Nino smiling for the first time. He remembered asking the finest painter to paint his friend, and it came out the way he wanted it too. He’s been wanting to show this to Nino when he’s finally been found. But it’s been past 12 years since that will never happen. As those years passed by, he told the knights to stop searching and gave up altogether. With this mess about this new thief, there was no way they could continue searching for him. He had to let the knights track this man down, and then he can finally send them out again to find Nino. Otherwise, he’s spent the last of his school years alone, graduating alone, and being bored at home.

“Nino,” he whispered at the smiling picture, “You know I miss you right? The friends I have now...Their nothing like you. Please Nino, I wish I can find you as soon as I can.”

“Talking to the painting again?"

"Uh...Er...I was--" He tried finding excuses to tell her and was about to speak when he felt arms going around his neck.

"It's ok, little brother. I'm sure he'll turn up one day and I can guarantee that."

"And how are you so sure?" He asked her, the feeling of embarrassment vanishing altogether. At times when he was caught by her, speaking to the painting or the roses, she about it but in the end became soft like a fragile girl. Jun liked her like this, but hated it when she was mad or angry because it scared him, being unable to understand what evil thoughts were running in her head. At times like this, he was the most calm and soft when she tried soothing him with calming words.

"Because, I just know it."

Jun thought about it and he realized his sister might be telling the truth. He remembered this one day when he lost one of his treasure toys and she told him that it would turn up somewhere he least expects it. Of course he was a child and he didn't believe her thinking that she was just teasing him. However, he went to the bathroom that same afternoon and he saw his small iron knight just lying besides the round bathtub. So every time when something like this happened, she was always there to tell those same words.

"Whatever," he scoffed and pushed her away from him, "You're just lying to make me feel better."

"Hmph!" She crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine. Then don't believe me." With that said, she left his room closing the door loudly behind her. All Jun could do was chuckle at her sudden change of behavior that he found amusing. After finally calming down, he laid back down into his four poster bed, and stared at the remainings of Nino on the wall.

The yellow note he received from his friend was now crippled as if it was from the ancient history. To risk it from being destroyed, he placed the note besides the painting with glass on top of it. He’s read it many times, the day after Nino’s disappearance and many, many countless of times after that. He silently laughed to himself as he traced his fingers over the sloppy kanji characters of a 7 year old. To Jun, he felt like Nino was still there, reading him those hurtful words and repeating it over and over until his ears couldn’t take it anymore. “Jun... I don’t want to be your friend anymore. Please forget me...” There it was again, those words that imagination Nino would whisper in his mind. He tried to get rid of that letter many times, but that was the only thing he had that was close to Nino. Instead, he turned his attention to the large painting besides it, and the voice finally vanished.

The truth is, he refused to forget about him as he stared at that painting that helped him remember Nino and his angel-like smile. It felt like it was just yesterday when he was besides him and not missing from his life. He turned his attention away from the painting for a moment and replayed the scene all over and over again, with a real yellow rose he stole from his mother's garden. Like he remembered the rose was glowing in the same way they both stared at it. Just as his imagination of Nino was about to smile, he heard something crash.

He snapped his head up and saw the woman he had kicked out staring at something in horror. Jun followed her eyesight and saw that she was staring at the painting of a smiling Nino.

"My... My son..." She mumbled weakly as she walked towards the painting, her hands trembling badly. "Kazunari... It's me, your mom..."

Mom?

"Kazunari... I missed you so much..."

"Hey!" Jun snapped when her finger touched the curved lips in the painting. "What are you doing here? I asked for someone else."

"But your highness, my son he..."

"Your son? I'm the only person in this room."

"But Kazunari he's...there."

Jun followed her frail fingers and knitted his eyebrows together when she realized she really was talking about the painting. Frowning he blocked her view, not wanting anyone to see Nino and his beautiful smile.

"Please let me see him!" She sobbed, her knees falling on the wooden floor. "I want to see my son!"

"This person isn't your son. He's not Kazunari or whatever you call him. His name is Nino!" He corrected her.

"Yes! Nino is my son, he likes being called by that nickname his father gave him."

"But..."Jun paused, "...He doesn't have a father."

"Kazunari hated talking about him after his father’s death, but he loves him which is why he kept that nickname. He's just a stubborn kid."

"Then why is he gone?..."

"His father told me one day that someone will come and take him. Of course I didn't believe him and let my Kazunari go to the school of his dream. I was so careless. My child..." She paused before grabbing her chest and tears started to come out again, "...I was never to see his smile again after his father's death... Please your highness, just let me see that painting..."

"Fine," Jun gave in and stepped aside, "But you have to tell me more about this person taking him away after I eat."

"Yes, your highness," She bowed down before standing up and rushing to the painting. He left the room before he heard her sobbing and yelling out her son's name. He couldn't stand hearing her in that way as guilt crept in his heart for being so rude to his friend's mom. Closing the door behind him, he ran to the garden, forgetting about his hunger, where all the yellow roses were staring at him in a way that Nino had last looked at him on that day. As a prince, he was taught to grow up strong and weakness was unacceptable in royalty. However, Jun found his legs growing weak as they sank into the evergreen grass and his eyes were starting to blur. If she really was Nino's mom, then there must be hope in finding him again.

He wouldn’t allow himself to cry even when his mom scolded him many times for it. His body was shaken up, and everything inside of him was just a mess. What if he were never to see him again, and just live on like he never existed? Jun shook that thought away which only slowed him down if he was a doubting prince. After whispering a few words to the yellow roses facing him, he dragged his feet back into his room, where Nino’s mom was staring at the painting in silence.

Jun was only able to get tad bits of information from her and nothing else. All he knew was that they were a poor family, and his father wasn’t much of a support, disappearing all the time when Nino needed him. Although he really love his son and he showed it by coming home with a present for him. Now he understood why Nino refused to smile and he felt bad for forcing him into it.

“Will you find my son, your highness?” The mom asked him in a hoarse voice that came out like it was a whisper.

“I will,” He reassured her, “And I’m so sorry for not knowing who you were. I was--”

“It’s ok,” She bowed her head, “You’re still growing...”

Jun sighed in relief, glad that she wasn’t mad at him. He can see now why Nino was weak too, he resembled his mother a lot.

They talked in his room for the longest time, talking about nothing but Nino. After he had learned everything he knew about Nino, and heard everything he already knew about him, he kindly dismissed her allowing her to take a week of break from work. She left with a smile on her face, almost the same as Nino’s but not close enough to make him tear up. After the knights had informed him she left safely to her house, he walked to his mother’s and father’s room in hopes they would listen to him.

Just like he was expecting, they were already going inside of their beds ready to fall asleep as the day was turning dark.

“Your highness,” He bowed down before walking to his mother’s side of the bed. “Will you allow this son of yours to go out and venture the world?”

“And why should we let you?” His father asked him in his rough voice he would hear in the courts all day.

“Because I’m not in school anymore and don’t you think for a future King, I should be going out to explore?” He asked them in a matter-of-fact tone.

The King just raised his eyebrows, while his mom was already looking at him with saddened eyes. He loved her too and he knew how much she worried for him. However, he wasn’t a baby anymore, and she still had his older sister if she was feeling lonely. Hearing his father sigh and then the old bed creaking, Jun already knew the answer.

“You can go, my son. I’ll allow you to bring three of our strongest knights. Until then, rest for tonight.”

“Thank you, your highness,” he bowed one last time before letting them go back to their peaceful rest. With the new resolution in his mind, Jun retired back to his room and rested for a long journey ahead of him.

TBC