Jun was busy talking to Aiba and Ohno when Sho raised his arms in front of them. The three stopped at the sudden action as the knight moved his eyes around. Jun was utterly confused, but he saw the look of protection in Sho’s eyes. As soon as he spotted that look, the two knights were immediately surrounding him.

“Jun-sama,” Sho whispered his name and he looked at the buff knight, “Take that bastard with you and hide behind those bushes. I think they are here for him, not us.”

The Prince didn’t question who ‘they’ were as he slipped from the horse’s back and dragged both the animal and the thief towards the forest until they were completely hidden in the shadows. He was crouching down on the floor, but the thief refused to do the same. Ignoring him, he popped his head up from the bushes and was relieved when he saw the three sturdy knights from within the leaves that was covering them. However, Jun blinked once and the knights suddenly disappeared from his view.

Feeling worried and scared, he ducked down even further afraid that he might get caught because of carelessly showing his head. He waited for a while, hoping that the knights would come running towards him and asking him if he was ok. However, Jun felt like time was ticking by and all he could do was wait for them so he slipped even further into the mess of dried leaves and grass to be hidden even further in the shadows.

As they waited, the Prince did nothing but stare at the thief, afraid that he will just leave despite the tightly tied rope around his wrists. The thief’s eyes were on him too, as if he was trying to look for his weaknesses. Then he remembered. He never had anytime to talk to this thief since the three were always so protective around him. Despite telling the trusted knights the real reason for this venture, he still didn’t show them Nino’s picture since he didn’t want them to go look for him and cause troubles just because he was being selfish.

Using his free hand, he slipped it inside his tunic until he found the small painting he had of a smiling Nino. After taking it out, he unfolded the small painting an shoved it in front of the thief’s face so he could have a better look.

“Look here, you see the little boy in this painting? He’s the one I want you to look for.”

The thief was expectedly quiet. Jun half hoped that once they were alone, the thief can finally say something through his masked mouth. However, the thief did no such thing and Jun slipped the painting back inside his tunic angrily.

“What’s it going to take to make you talk, huh?” He asked him angrily, his voice barely a whisper. “Do you want more gold?! Because I have enough to make you talk!”

Standing up, he walked besides the horses body until he saw the pack he was looking for. He his hand inside of the pack feeling a heavy pouch weigh in his hand. These golds were supposed to be for when they decided to stay at the villages. Since after catching that bastard, they didn’t need it anymore since he clearly told the knights to stay away from the villages so the news of catching the thief wouldn’t reach his father’s ears. He needed him before anyone else found out.

He turned his attention back to the infamous thief and threw the pouch of gold in his face with so much anger and rage. Despite the pouch being tightly tied around by the best rope his father can find, the gold spilled out of the pouch, some of them hitting the thief’s face and falling on the ground right after. He waited for the thief to bend down and grab all the gold and put it in his clothed body. However, the thief did no such thing as his eyes were still on his face.

“Then what do you want?!” He yelled, not caring if ‘they’ could hear him. “Why don’t you talk?!”

Just as Jun was about to send his foot flying on the masked face, a soft swoosh sounded behind him. He flinched back from the sound, thinking it was one of the knights coming to his rescue. He thought wrong when he saw a man dressed the same way as the thief, swiftly come in front of him without making a sound.

“G-get away from me...” Jun mumbled as he backed away from the darkly clothes figure walking towards him slowly. “Please, I’ll give you gold...”

The gray haired thief didn’t seem to budge after hearing what he said and just kept inching towards him. As he kept backing away, something caught his heel and he fell on the ground, the dried leaves saving his fall. He tried getting up, but his hand slipped from the slippery grass underneath the dead leaves. When he heard a twig snap, he looked up and saw the thief holding an unindentified weapon in his hands. For fear that he was going to die so soon, he closed his eyes expecting the sharp weapon slicing his vulnerable body. When nothing happened, he slightly opened one of his eyes and instead saw the gray haired thief being held by the neck with the infamous thief.

Jun’s eyes bulged open when he saw the infamous thief grab the weapon with this tied up hands, and slid the weapon across the other thief’s neck. He watched the man’s eyes roll to the back of his head before blood gushed out of throat and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

“Y-you saved me...” he gasped at the same time his eyes locked with his. He was unable to read the expression in his eyes and was about to speak again when the thief’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his body landed besides the dead thief.

The Prince was very lost. He didn’t know what to do, praying that one of the knights shows up anytime now. Nothing happened while he was pacing back and forth so he had no choice but to do everything on his own. He lifted the unconscious body off the floor, surprised that the body was very light like four pillows altogether. After dropping the body on his horse he threw his leg to the other side of the animal, and turned the horse around to where he could hear rushing water. Finding the river didn’t take long. He slipped down the the animal’s back and held the unconscious body along with him to the edge of the river. Bending down, Jun rested the lolling head of the thief on his lap and splashed cold water on the thief’s still masked face. Nothing happened for a while, then the thief’s eyes were fluttering open. The thief stayed unmoving in his arms until Jun realized who he was dealing with and pushed the thief off of his lap. He was at lost at what to do, and just stood besides the horse instead, keeping a distance away from the dangerous thief.

To his prayers, he heard three familiar voices coming towards his direction. The loudest was Aiba who was now running towards him with big, worried eyes. “Jun-sama...” he panted, his hands going to his shoulders, “...Are you...ok?”

The Prince nodded his head as he was being turned around like a roasting chicken. When he came face to face with Aiba again, the worried look on his face lessened a little bit and he could see the other two knights coming to a stop behind Aiba, panting and gasping for air.

“Is he ok?” Sho asked Aiba who came running to the two and patted their backs.

“Un,” Aiba nodded.

“Good...but Jun-sama, why are...you here?”

“One of the thief like him attacked me, but this bastard saved me and passed out,” He answered the older man honestly because he knows he’s smart enough to see through any lies he makes.

“I see. At least you’re safe. Now let’s go before we get spotted again. I think Satoshi found a nice spot earlier.”

The Prince nodded his head. Ignoring the thief’s eyes on him, he grabbed the rope and adjusted himself on the horse’s back. Aiba held onto his horse’s reins and the three of them led the way out. They found the three horses grazing on the grass and the three went to their horses. Soon they were back on the road again.

Like Sho had said, Ohno found them a nicer spot just like their first night but it was small yet comfortable. It wasn’t even nighttime yet, but he sent the the buff knight and the giggling knight to go look for firewood, while he sent the sleepy knight to go look for food. While the three were going what they were told, he stayed put with the silent thief and watched him like a hawk.

His eyes were closed and Jun suspected he was sleeping while standing up. He didn’t even feel pity when he saw the he was swaying from side to side, almost falling on his side. Despite telling the knights he wanted to take that mask off on the day of his execution, his hands were itching him too. After that small even that happened in the forest, he couldn’t stop thinking why someone would save him after what he’s done to him. His trembling hands besides him were now moving and was inching closer to the thief’s mask. He was just about three inches away when he heard a loud whistling and chattering. Jun immediately backed away and went to the middle of their camp ground like nothing happened.

“Jun-sama! We gathered enough wood to keep us warm tonight,” Aiba told him in his happy-go-lucky voice. “...But Sho almost got attacked by a chipmunk...”

Jun ignored what Aiba had mumbled at him when Ohno came walking towards them with fishes in his hand. For a sleepy knight, he really was useful other than making those fires for them at night.

“Oh~ Satoshi brought dinner!” Aiba clapped his hands together after dropping all the wood on the floor, “But it’s fish again. Satoshi, we know you’re a good fisher but can’t you catch anything else?”

“Nope,” he yawned, “Fish is healthy anyways. So don’t complain or I’ll throw them back into the river.”

“Ok, I won’t,” he mumbled. “Just get the fire started so we can eat. It’s getting dark already.”

“Alright,” Ohno sighed, “Here, hold the fish.”

Jun heard the tall knight grumble before grabbing the fishes off of Ohno’s hands. The sleepy knight was already on the floor, bent down and was starting the fire. It didn’t take him long to start it, and soon, it was already night time when they were eating the fishes he caught.

Throughout dinner, Jun couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder. He noticed the thief shivering, maybe because his mask was still wet, like it was winter in the middle of summer. “Ohno-san, go over there and fetch him.”

“E-excuse me?” The sleepy knight looked up at the same time the laughter and chattering stopped.

“You heard me. I don’t like repeating myself.”

“Uh... Yes sire,” Ohno finally responded and stood up from his spot.

While Ohno was busy untying the thief from the tree, he kindly asked Aiba to make a spot which the knight listened to immediately. Ohno had finished by then and the knight put the sleeping thief in between him and Aiba. After fixing the thief into a sitting position, the three were silent for a few minutes before going back to the way they were before. Jun remained quiet, silently munching the delicious fish. His eyes kept darting to the side, wondering if the thief was awake so he could at least give him some food to eat. Seeing that he wasn’t, Jun pushed a small amount of fish meat on the thief’s lap anyways, and started talking to the three knights like nothing happened.

TBC