KISMET ─ vento aureo.

INTERLUDE VII *. ⊹

★ ⁺ — PRINCE OF THE DAY

content warning: descriptions of violence and blood

★˚⋆ HARUNO SHIOBANA LEARNED FROM A young age that crying wouldn't do much for him. One of his earliest memories was of waking up in the middle of the night, sobbing until his throat was raw. Once he stopped, he realized that the house was still quiet, still dark. It meant that his mother, in her twenties and beautiful enough to turn heads on the street, was still out. There was no use crying. No one would come. All he could do was pull his covers over his head and tremble.

Haruno didn't know who his father was. He didn't look much like his glamorous, chocolate-haired mother. The few times that he asked earned him lethal glares and sharp remarks. Haruno wasn't stupid enough to dream that one day his father would appear to take him in.

Haruno's mother surprised him by announcing one day that she would remarry. This coming from someone who took different partners every week and preferred bottles and pills to men. She told him they would be rich and that they would be moving to a colony ship.

"I won't have to take care of you because you'll have a nanny," she told him. "Don't you like that?"

Haruno nodded. His mother said nothing about the fact that she never took much care of him to begin with. She only sometimes remembered to restock the fridge with instant meals and when they ran out, Haruno would knock on the neighbour's doors. She must not know how hungry he always was when she went out.

"That shirt is disgusting," she said afterwards, wrinkling her nose. "Go change into something else."

Haruno was only wearing this shirt because all of his other ones were too small. It was a hand-me-down from the neighbours. Maybe things would get better after his mother remarried. His stepfather might actually take care of him like a real child.

The wedding was extravagant. Haruno had never been to an event like it. So much light and music and food. People he had never met before pinched his cheek and gave him sweets. "Your mother is beautiful," they said. "You should be proud."

He supposed his mother was beautiful. She looked like a queen, sitting apart from the guests with his stepfather. Occasionally, she would laugh and kiss his stepfather's cheek.

His stepfather seemed too ordinary. Slightly fat, with brown hair and a scruffy beard. Haruno wondered what his mother saw in the man, if anything besides his money. He supposed it didn't matter so long as he was kind and treated them both well.

And that turned out to be the case, whenever his mother was around. His stepfather was all smiles, drawing Haruno up on his lap, telling him stories and bringing him trinkets from around the colony ship. He liked to hoist Haruno up on his shoulders so he could look out the bay windows and marvel at the stars. It made his mother happy, seeing her husband get along with her sullen little boy.

But as with a lot of things, Haruno's mother didn't know the whole story. She didn't know that his stepfather's face changed when she was gone. He was gruffer. More snappish. Always getting annoyed. He didn't like the way Haruno looked at him, didn't like how he was so quiet all the time. Haruno tried to keep out of his way, but sometimes just a glance would be enough to set him off.