𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 | 𝒂. 𝒌𝒆𝒊𝒋𝒊

𝒌𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒐𝒓

"Father!" Akaashi rushes towards the king.

"What is it now?" the King groans in annoyance when he sees Akaashi's expression. Everyone stops what they're doing to witness the heated argument that's about to begin.

"You captured F/n and now you're going to drown her? Stop it immediately!"

"F/n?" the King thinks to himself, "Oh... you mean the woman who kidnapped you."

"What?! No--I mean, yes,--well, I was the one who escaped the castle in the first place! You shouldn't punish her for my mistake!"

"She's caused a lot of problems; not just for us, but around the kingdom and innocent people."

"Yes, she has bu--"

"If you admit that she has, why do you continue to ask for her? This is the punishment she deserves," the King interrupts him.

"Because Father, she's my friend!"

The King scoffs. "Now you're befriending criminals and your kidnapper? I knew you going outside of the castle would mess up your brain, but I didn't think it would this much."

"She saved my life, Father."

"And that's because she wanted the award, son. Please use that brain of yours. You're causing a whole scene and your wedding is in an hour. Even if you were to try to stop her from falling from her death, it'd be too late. They're probably almost there."

Akaashi's fists tighten. "Please. She may have only saved me for those reasons in the beginning, but she's changed--I've changed--we've both changed for the better. I've learned so much about the world because of her. She has even risked her life for me so many times, Father."

"Stop it, son. You're just acting insane now--"

"Please!" Akaashi begs, "F/n is important to me--I need her in my life! If she dies because of my mistakes, then I would feel as if my life were nothing from now on. I wouldn't kill myself, but I would never be able to live the same. I want to live with her in my lif--"

"If I were to really listen to what you're saying, I would say you sound like you're in love with her."

The words hit Akaashi like a bullet as he stands there in realization. From the doors, Aoki watches the argument and witnesses the look on Akaashi's face.

"But that's insane. You in love with that thief--"

"So what if I am?" Akaashi asks.

The king stares at his son in disbelief and bitterly laughs. "Stop joking around right now. You're about to get married! You're disrespecting the Aoki family!!"

"I know and I apologize, but this is the woman I love. I need to go save her," Akaashi declares and is about to head out when the guards stop him.

"You are not going anywhere. You've caused enough problems already, Keiji!" the King finally lets out his roar.

"Let me through!" Akaashi ignores his dad, angering him even more.

"Lock him in a room until the wedding starts!"

As the guards slowly approach Akaashi, he backs up and takes a knife from the snack table.

"Don't you dare disobey your king and fight back!"

Turning around, Akaashi lets out a scoff.

"A real king would let go of their pride and see how much their people are suffering. If you cannot be the king that you should be, then you are no king to me." With that, Akaashi strikes at the guards and easily steals one of the guard's sword.

As more and more guards come to fight Akaashi, it gets more overwhelming and the numbers become larger. Successfully, Sakusa--one of the most skilled swordsman--holds Akaashi onto the floor.

"Get off of me!"

"I apologize, Akaashi-sama," he sympathetically apologizes and is about to tie the screaming prince's hands.

"HEY, HEY, HEY! Let go of him!" a loud and cheerful voice sings. Gathering everyone's attention, a man with crazy hair waits upon the door.

"B-Bokuto-san?" Akaashi whispers from beneath Sakusa.

Behind Bokuto is Fukurodani, Nekoma, and Inarizaki.

"Who are these people?!" the King exclaims in anger.

"Sorry we're late to the wedding, but we came as fast as we could," Atsumu chuckles.

"Yeah! Next time, just invite us!!" Kuroo yells.

Seeing that Sakusa is caught off guard, Akaashi kicks his body off of him and gets up. Immediately, more chaos happens as Bokuto--head on--starts attacking the guards.

"What's going on?" Akaashi asks as Kozume runs to him.

"Got your friends to help--"

"When were they my friends?"

"Doesn't matter! I met them when I was tracking you down," Kozume explains and pushes Akaashi's body through the fight.

"Where are you taking me, Kenma?!" Akaashi growls and shoves the boy's hand off of his shoulder. "I'm not going to go with y--"

"We're going to save N/n," Kozume says, shocking Akaashi.

"Wha--"

"If we don't hurry, we won't make it! The others got the guards, come on!"

Confused, Akaashi follows Kozume out of the hall.

"Stop him!!" the King yells and points towards Akaashi. As the guards run towards the direction, they are stopped by the new knights in shining armor.

"Make sure you tell N/n-chan that she owes me a kiss!" Kuroo yells as the two are heading out.

"Me too!" Bokuto yells along.

"I don't mind one as well," Suna adds.

"If Suna's getting one, then me too!" Atsumu happily yells.

"Don't say things that don't make sense," Kita scolds the two younger ones who whine while fighting.

An irk mark slightly appears on Akaashi's temple at the mention of a kiss from you, but it immediately disappears and he stops running.

"Akaashi-sama, we have to get go--"

"Thank you very much!" Akaashi loudly yells to his newly made friends before running out to the horses with Kozume. As he whips the horse to go, he passes by Aoki but doesn't even give her a glance.

As tears fall out of her eyes, she tightly grips her gown.

'I guess we weren't meant to be, Akaashi-sama.'

-

Sitting in the back of the carriage with your entire body chained up, the bumps cause you to move around the cart as if you were a bag of rice.

"Ugh, these guys suck at driving! Or the road needs to be fixed," you quietly groan as you stare at the wooden wall. Nearby you was a glass bottle and looking at it, you could easily see your reflection. You looked like a wreck. You silently chuckle to yourself. "I don't remember looking this beaten up since my beginning days of stealing... that was a long time ago," you reminisce of the memories that made you stronger. Although they made you stronger, you knew that they were a dark part of who you were. "Thankfully Keiji won't have to see me like this," you mumble to yourself.

Date: 23 August 2020