He kept glancing back and forth at the road and his friends, afraid that they wouldn’t make it in time. But with the help of the doctor, he could see that Sho was still breathing normally while Aiba was pushing away locks of hair on his face. He felt a bit at ease but his eyes kept going back to the thief Ohno was dragging. It was his intention to just let him ride on his horse, but as he said, they couldn’t have anymore delays since his friend needed his help. He turned away again when he saw that the thief had fallen on his face from the speed they were going. No matter what Jun tried to do, he couldn’t take that image off of his mind.

His spirit brightened up a little when he realized they were already nearing his castle while knights came running through the gate. He thought that they would never make it since their journey took them a long time; it was probably because they went at a slow speed. Once he and his knights stopped at the front gate, they found themselves being ushered in while the guarding knights tried to block the villagers from entering their property.

Jun was the first to enter, while the doctor and Aiba was carrying Sho inside with them. He shooed his sister away who was asking so many questions and was relieved when the castle doctor came running down from the upper levels. His parents had told him he was the one that delivered him to this world, and he was glad that he was still there to help him. There no words exchanged once the doctor rushed towards the limp body and ordered the others to clear the dining table.

“What’s going on?” The King asked them as he came running towards the crowding circle. “Is my son hurt?”

“No, your highness,” Jun shook his head, “But Sakurai is, and he needs to be taken care of.”

The King looked worried as his eyes roamed over the half body. He could tell his father didn’t care if a bloody body was on their dining table, the very same table that had been passed down from generations to generations. He heard him mutter something under his breath, and then he shouted for the closest knight to assist him. Jun knew what he was thinking, and he was glad that the present King was his father.

It was hard to watch his friend as blood kept coming out of his body making him as white as the snow in winter. He heard him groan when the doctor had done something to his wounds, while Aiba was just his head and telling him to listen to his voice. Jun couldn’t stand this anymore as he wasn’t used to seeing this kind of thing. Before leaving, he told Aiba to take good care of him while he took a breather outside the gardens.

Just as Jun had thought, nothing had changed. The yellow roses were still glowing so peacefully under the moonlight and the air was still great around the castle. He glanced to his right and saw a slumped figure resting on one of the garden chairs. He knew who it was, and just seeing him reminded him of a person he promised to find.

“Where is he?” Jun asked the dazing Ohno as he nudged him on the shoulder.

“Huh? What? Oh, Jun-sama,” He yawned, “I sent him off to the... prison cells...”

He didn’t listen to what Ohno had to say after seeing how his eyes were starting to droop again. It was right to let him have his rest, since they rode for who knows how long. At the same time Ohno let out a soft snore, Jun was off to the lowest part of the castle and soon found himself standing and panting in front of the door that held the criminals. It took him a while to recover until he nodded his head to the guard knight, letting him know to unlock the door. He took a step inside, gulping as he did so, and another step until he was standing on dirty stones.

As the door behind him closed loudly, loud enough to echo in the corridor, he found himself staring at nothing, his feet refusing to move for him. He felt frozen on the spot, telling himself to just turn around and ignore everything. But he couldn’t do it when his feet started to move until finally, he stood in the only prison cell that held one prisoner. He looked down at his feet, not wanting the knights to see the cowardice in their future King’s eyes.

Without looking up, he reached for the handle on the door but pulled away in hesitation. He held his criminal hands to his chest wondering why he still hadn’t gotten rid of them as soon as he came home. But what his criminal hands did was reach towards the handle and pulled it so it was open for him. Jun stood there at the doorway, telling his feet not to go inside as his criminal hands grabbed onto his dirtied shirt, and held onto it until he heard the sound of ripping fabric echo in the corridor. It was the only sound he could hear until he stepped further into the cell and the only thing he could hear was deep breathing.

His vision became clear when he stepped in the only light source coming from the moonlight. He wondered how many stars there were in the sky, wondering if he could see them too. But as his eyes caught a figure in the corner, he saw that it was hunched, his head on his knees while his arms were holding his legs together. Jun just stared at it, waiting for something to happen; nothing did. Once again, his legs were glued to the floor as if there was an invisible sprite mocking him and doing this to him.

“Nino...” he called out in a very weak voice, almost as soft as his mother’s.

The figure didn’t stir or bother to look up from the mention of his name. It just sat there, like a slowly dying corpse.

“Nino...” He whispered again his criminal hands trying to reach the still figure. But it was no use, it just sat there as if his voice was nothing but air.

As if his desperation was heard, he felt his feet move by themselves again, and it bent down until he was reaching the floor. He could see that there were bits of skeletons that the servants didn’t bother to clean, and many different kinds of dirt laying here and there. Jun couldn’t, or didn’t want to say anything as he leaned his back on the dirty walls. It didn’t matter to him if he was going to have to take a thousand baths as long as he was able to be next to him again. Even if he refused to talk, it didn’t matter as long as he can see him again despite the darkness surrounding them.

His criminal hands fidgeted with his almost ripped shirt, playing with the little strings that were popping out. He tugged and pulled at it a little until the hole on his shirt became even bigger than before. Jun let out a light chuckle, hoping that he too would join with him. But instead, he received a quiet breeze through the hole in his shirt. He became quiet afterwards and let out a bitter smile that he knew his friend couldn’t see with his head down.

Jun just sighed into the darkness, letting the air around him take him in. He stared at the ceiling, wishing they were outside together to watch the stars blink in many colors, while having a little game about who can call out the colors as fast as he can. Instead, all he could see was moss growing out of the stone ceilings, and little droplets of water coming through the small holes. As he watched the ceiling, imagining them as stars, he allowed his body to move closer to the silent figure, and rested his head on the man’s arm.

He felt like he was a kid again, but just remembering those days caused something inside of him to stir painfully, yet wonderfully that he couldn’t understand what his body was trying to tell him. He slowly looked down from the ceiling until all his attention were on the figure. His criminal hands were moving on their own, as if it had been having a mind of it’s own, and it reached under in between the figure, feeling something wet and warm landing on his palm. Jun wanted to pull away, to tell his hands how wrong of what it was doing, but he stopped himself from wanting to do so when his eyes came in contact with the other’s. It was wet, and so puffy that he couldn’t see the emotions mixing in his eyes. He could feel himself coming slowly towards him until he was breathing on the his sweaty skin. His whole entire body system was having a war inside of him, but something tugged him in his body to close his eyes and for his head to move closer until his lips barely touched the man’s rough lips.

Jun was unable to pull back anymore as he lost sense of everything. His criminal hands going to the back of the man’s head, pulling him even closer to feel the man’s unmoving lips against his. He felt like the whole world was only made for the two of them as he let out a single tear from his eyes, and whispered

“I love you...Nino...”

TBC