𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 ||𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚||

▪️wild wolf▪️

"It's not nice for a strong, young man like you to be sleeping till this late" Yokozawa said in his deep voice, waking Daichi from his comfortable slumber. Chite and Zawa were kind enough to offer Daichi a place to sleep. It was by a small fireplace, on fur. Daichi immediately fell asleep and dreamt of things that did not make sense - some people and weird houses.

"What time is it?" Daichi asked while rubbing his eyes. The mushroom stew really worked its magic, Daichi was full even now.

"It's sunrise of course! Time to head out. I want to show you the town" Yokozawa placed a stack of clothes next to Daichi, smiling at the young man. Even though they only met yesterday Yokozawa already felt attached to him. They had a son-father vibe between them and Yokozawa would not let anything get between them.

"Alrighty, I'll get ready then" Daichi yawned and watched as Yokozawa left the room.

Chite, in the mean time, was packing food for the two. It was hard to pack food when you knew it would freeze to bits if left out in the open. Some bread, some smoked meat, some cheese. Just a snack for the road. Something inside unsettled her - what if Daichi meets the prince? What if he takes Daichi away?

It's been a while since the house felt this warm. The plants on the table no longer had yellow leaves, they all turned back to vibrant green. It's as if Daichi brought the life with him.

"Thank you again for lending me a place to sleep, missus" Daichi said as soon as he saw Chite, the other just laughed at his words.

"No need to thank and also do not call me missus. Chite is fine", she put a small box wrapped in fabric in Daichi's hands. "For the trip. Keep it under your coat so it doesn't freeze"

"Let's go Daichi! People are already waiting for us outside!" Yokozawa yelled and Daichi once again thanked Chite before running outside. He struggled to hide the food under his fur coat but managed to do it with Yokozawa's encouragement.

The people who were in the cart with them looked at Daichi with hope in their eyes. Rumours sure do spread fast. They moved slowly towards the town around the castle, Yokozawa and others needed to buy stuff for their village and of course Yokozawa had to take Daichi along.

"Daichi, you have to promise me one thing" Yokozawa suddenly said, his tone serious. Daichi tilted his head to the side as to show that he was listening. "If you see anyone with light grey hair - you run in the opposite direction"

"Why is that?" Daichi raised an eyebrow at an oddly specific request.

"The prince. He must not see you. He will capture you, Daichi" Yokozawa's concern was obvious, but even though Daichi agreed he wouldn't be the one to run away.

As they got closer, it got louder and soon Daichi saw a town, swarming with people. People were selling and buying goods, doing various activities and so on. Finally - a place to check out some interesting stuff.

Yokozawa jumped out of the cart and approached Daichi. He put some coins in his hand and smiled. Oh how pretty they were, simple, yet shiny. "Go buy something. You should find some good tools for this"

You know that feeling when someone keeps doing good stuff for you and letting you do what you want and suddenly you feel guilty? Yeah. That's the feeling Daichi had now as he started at gold and silver coins in his hand, however once he looked up to find Yokozawa - he was no longer there.

Heading into town was more stressful than it seemed. He wanted to buy every small cart with baked good he came across. He did ended up buying some hot plant-based buns, but that is besides the point. His attention was grabbed by a store selling various herbs. With a mixture of herbs he could help relieve Chite's leg pain. The house had frozen moss on the roof, the wood that it was made from had a dark brown color to it making it seem ever so mysterious.

The inside was empty apart from the clerk, who upon Daichi's entrance stood up from his stool and got ready to recommend what herbs to take. He looked exactly like a person working with herbs should look like - big beard (with bits of herbs in it), green eyes and strong arms.

"Hey there youngster! What are you looking for?", he asked in a low pitched tone, surprised to see such a tanned man.

"Some Devil's Claws, perhaps some chamomiles if you have any..." Daichi said while inspecting the herbs.

"Sure thing man! For pain relief, right?" He asked as he pulled out an old wooden box with Devil's Claws in it.

"Yeah... you have some Capsaicin, right?" Daichi wondered as he couldn't see it anywhere.

"Sorry boy, my only plant is dying no matter how much I take care of it" the man said and pointed at the pot behind him with an almost wilted plant.

"May I see it?" He asked.

The man put the pot on the counter and it didn't take long for the curse around the capsaicin to start disappearing. Daichi's warm touch was enough for it to regain color. The man behind the counter could not say a word, magic was happening in front of his eyes and he couldn't do anything but observe.

Suddenly a chime by the door moved, surprising the owner even more. Daichi turned his attention away and looked to see who walked in.

It was at this moment that the world stopped.

The snowflakes outside froze midair.

Daichi stared into the grey eyes of the person in front of him, his complexion was pale and his silver hair almost seemed as soft as a cloud. He was dressed like a proper royal should be and yet he had an intimidating aura.

Daichi's heart beat quickly, which was unhealthy, but he couldn't help it.

"It's warm in here" he said and Daichi nodded frantically. "I haven't seen you around..."

"Oh I come from far far away... my name is Daichi, I'm  a traveler", Daichi introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Sugawara, I'm the prince"

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Honhonhon here he comes.

Hope you liked it!

Hatari