Chapter Text
It was a beautiful day in the land of Kamome, a small but prosperous country in a far far away world. The land was ruled by Queen Sakura, a young and beautiful lady with emerald eyes and hair whose heart was as cold as a stone. While the Queen rarely if ever showed any emotions except for her annoyance, she was ruling her land peacefully, leading it to wealth and prosperity.
The streets of the capital were bustling as always. Shops of all kinds on the left and on the right, a few taverns strewn along the main street. People were busy with shopping, bargaining and sightseeing. A few children ran around playing tag, avoiding running into the busy adults.
The streets of the city were protected by the Queen’s guards in shining armor. There were at least a dozen of them alone on the main street. A beautiful and peaceful day. Or it could have been if not for a nasty rumor on the streets.
“Did you hear? There was an attack on the coaches of the neighboring kingdom.”
“Really? What did they transport?”
“Apparently, the young princess and some kind of treasure for our Queen.”
“I heard all of her guards were killed.”
“How terrible! What is Queen Sakura going to do?”
“I heard she dismissed the entire case as an accident.”
“Shush, someone might hear you.”
A short raven-haired boy with big amber eyes clad in a black cloak walked away from the gossiping citizens. His name was Yugi Amane though everyone knows him as Hanako. He had hidden himself among the crowd to hear the newest gossip and he was fairly sure he stumbled over something big.
“So no one is looking into the attack huh? I wonder where the treasure went.”
He was already dreaming about what kind of treasure it could be. Jewelry? Gold and silver? Whatever it was he was going to look for it. With a happy grin on his face he made his way out of town.
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Like every wealthy city, the capital of Kamome had a large white church towering above the city.
It was the center of the capital and the symbol of hope, faith and wisdom led by the Minamoto family. It’s beauty was only challenged by the Queen’s own castle which was located just on the outskirts of the capital.
“The Queen ordered her guards and everyone else to cease any investigations,” a tall blond haired man in his thirties explained. The head of the Minamoto Family. The bishop of the kingdom was an intimidating man. All of his children were following in their father’s footsteps. His sons were to become clerics and his daughters priestesses! His oldest son and his youngest daughter were both doing great. His youngest son however? He wasn’t sure about that boy. The boy’s power and talent in holy magic was at best tolerable but at least he was decent at fighting with his staff - if only he weren’t so rebellious Hisako wouldn’t be so worried about his youngest son.
“But father, that was an attack on our allies! What if the princess got kidnapped? We have to look into it,” the mentioned young boy protested. He was wearing a novice's robe, all white with a few yellow ornaments and the crest of the family attached on the left arm. He had blond spiky hair and light blue eyes. The most notable feature was the boy’s weird looking earring.
“Silence boy! It was the order of her Majesty! You are dismissed, make sure to train harder my son.”
Kou left his father’s study which was located in the back of the church. He was clearly upset that his father didn’t listen to his request. He was well aware that his father thought of him as a failure but he’d prove them all wrong. He will look into the case and make sure that the princess was safe and sound. He was just as capable as his older brother and his little sister.
The young cleric in training didn’t get very far. As he was walking towards the capital’s gates to head into the forest he noticed something in the corners of his eyes. There was a damsel in distress! A pretty girl with medium-length pink hair was dragged into a dark alley by some shady looking men! So he had to take a detour to save the young lady and maybe to catch her name. The blond had a fondness for pink.
The damsel in distress was wearing a dark blue robe with a hood attached to it. The robe had long and frilly sleeves and it was adorned with red symbols, ending just around the wearer’s thighs, revealing slender and long legs in baby blue colored thigh-highs and dark blue boots. Said damsel was also wearing a red scarf around the neck and had dazzling ruby-colored eyes, a beauty mole under the left one. In one word: Cute. In Kou’s words: Drop dead gorgeous.
The shady looking men were cornering Kou’s bride to be - wait where did that thought come from?! At any rate those men were certainly threatening the lady so Kou did what he had to do and he used his stuff to knock each of them out.
“Are you hurt, my lady?” He asked and held out a hand to his lady.
“What the hell is wrong with you, stupid lame-ass traffic-safety earring?” The voice of the damsel was beautiful but full of spite and not so lady-like words.
Kou blinked several times, “Didn’t they threaten you? I thought you were in trouble!”
The pink haired damsel tilted their head, dumbfounded. There was a blush creeping onto their face.
“First of all, I’m a boy, okay? Second, I’m not some damsel in distress you need to save!”
Kou stared at those slender legs. His bride-to-be was a boy? Really? For a strange reason it didn’t bother him.
“Hello? Eyes up! What are you, a perv?”
“Ehhh….no! N-no it’s just that you.. you are….the cutest boy I have ever seen.”
If the blush on the pink haired boy’s face was only faintly visible before it was just as bright as his hair color after hearing those words. The blond boy blushed as well.
“S-so… are you hurt?” He asked again, still holding his hand out for the other to take.
To Kou’s great fortune the other took his hand and as he leaned down to kiss it he noticed how soft the boy’s hand felt. He wondered if the boy’s lips were just as soft as the rest of his body?
“You are staring at me again.” The boy’s voice was now a lot quieter and sounded embarrassed, “like I said. I wasn’t in distress. If anyone distresses me then it’s you.”
With those words the pink-haired boy slipped past the cleric who spun around to watch him.
“W-wait, what’s your name?” He managed to ask.
“Mitsuba.”
And then the pink haired boy was gone.
“Mitsuba.” Kou repeated. He wouldn’t forget that name. His father would be very disappointed to learn that his youngest son just failed him again. He lost his heart to a bratty girly-looking pink haired boy.
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The forest where the coaches were attacked was big but mostly linear so one had to be either blind or stupid to get lost in it. It wasn’t one of those dark looking forests you sometimes see. It was rather beautiful, really!
The place where the attack occurred was an entirely different case. It was a gruesome sight. Severed body parts were scattered around everywhere, there was so much blood and not one body of the soldiers was left intact. Even the horses were killed. There was not a single survivor. One of the coaches was burnt down, the other two toppled over on the side. Who or whatever had attacked the group was long gone. Who did this? Men? Beasts? That wasn’t really clear.
“Damn, of course they took the treasure. So it has to be some bandits?” Amane was the first to arrive at the scene. The sight didn’t disturb him so much although he had to admit it was rather gross. He had seen worse before.
The second one to arrive was Mitsuba, although the pink haired boy was quickly overwhelmed by the sight. He had seen some stuff in his life but nothing as violent as this. All colors left his face as he fell onto his knees, “What kind of monsters did this?”
The young cleric arrived just a minute after Mitsuba. At the gruesome sight he frowned before he noticed his crush. He rushed over to the pale looking boy, wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close.
“Mitsuba, are you alright? This isn’t a place for someone as cute as you.”
Mitsuba snapped out of his stupor and tried to push the other boy away.
“I told you before, I’m not a damsel you need to save. What are you even doing here? Did you fall for me so hard that you’re stalking me?!”
“What? No! I thought I’d never see you again. I’m here to investigate the attack. Although I’m really happy to see you, Mitsuba.” The blond was shockingly honest. Mitsuba blushed as he finally got up onto his feet. The blond boy was only inches away from his own face and he looked genuinely worried.
“Dawww. You two should get a room, really.” They both spun around to see Amane.
“A cleric and a mage, I guess? Oh, a cleric in training, pardon me.” He smirked at the blond.
“Who are you?!” Kou asked and took a step forward shielding the pink haired boy. His face flushed a bit more because of the teasing.
“Just someone who is doing the same as you. Sans flirting with a pink haired boy at the site of a brutal attack of course.”
“Wait, you are a mage, Mitsuba?”
“Huh? Are you stupid or what? Of course I am.”
“Oh…” He almost looked a bit disappointed, if only for a brief moment.
“Let us work together. My name is Hanako. I’m after the treasure which was stolen,” Amane suggested after they all calmed down a bit.
“Dirty thief! Don’t you care what happened to the princess?” The cleric asked, visibly annoyed.
“Only if finding her involves a nice amount of gold as a reward, Kid. What are you looking for, Pinky?” The thief asked and looked at the mage.
“That’s none of your business.” He flinched when he saw that both of the others stared at him, “Fine. I’m looking for a magical artifact the princess was carrying with her.”
“See, we have a common goal. I want the treasure, your shining knight wants to save the princess and you want an artifact. We should work together!”
A thief, a cleric and a mage. Sounds like the start of a bad joke.
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Surprisingly, working together as a team wasn’t as bad as they all silently thought. Well, Amane was convinced it could work out but neither Mitsuba nor Kou shared his sentiment.
As Hanako introduced himself first Mitsuba followed suit. The only one of them to tell them his full name was the young cleric.
After the short introduction they quickly found some footprints leading away from the scene, deeper into the woods. The pink haired mage was glad about that as he still felt a bit queasy from before.
“So you think the princess may have survived?” Mitsuba asked the cleric.
“I didn’t see her body. She has to be alive.” Kou was walking behind the mage and he was staring at those legs again. So pretty!
“Can’t you use your magic to sense the artifact, Pinky?”
“Stop calling me that, asshole. I am already doing that. So far it’s in the same direction as these footprints.”
“So that means the princess is alive!” Kou was determined to save her.
“Who knows? Could be the killer or somebody else,” the thief replied.
After a long journey the footsteps ended rather abruptly and the three companions looked around for any clues.
“Princess?” Kou shouted out.
“Great idea, let everyone know we are here, stupid earring-boy,” Mitsuba scolded his stalker.
“I am here,” an unknown voice called out, surprising all of them.
A girl in a torn dress stepped onto the path. She looked exhausted and tired but ready to fight back if the sword she carried was any hint. She had long cream colored hair which fades into a soft green at the end and it had been neatly braided. Her eyes were magenta colored. She stared at the strange group but quickly realized that they weren’t a threat.
“Wow. She IS alive. Hey you, tell me where your treasure is.”
“Radish. She looks like radish,” Mitsuba noticed. The girl frowned at the comment.
The only one who was nice enough to actually care about her was the blond boy. Kou approached the girl, “My name is Minamoto Kou and I’m a cleric. I’m here to save you.”
“I appreciate the thought, but there is no need to save me.”
“...”
She crushed the boy’s poor heart. She wasn’t a damsel in distress either.
“But, dear Kou-kun, I’d be happy if you could help me to get my treasure back. The bandit stole all of it. I was only able to save the artifact of our kingdom. My name is Yashiro Nene.”
This seemed to cheer the young cleric up, at least to some degree.
She was carrying some kind of amulet around her neck and Mitsuba got very close to her to inspect it. It was beautiful and handcrafted.
“This is what I felt earlier. It called out to me. It’s full of magic. Tell me Radish-senpai, where did you get this?”
Nene huffed and slapped the boy. Twice. This shocked all of them.
“This is not the way you talk to a princess! But if you must know, my family has ties to powerful mages and this is one of our artefacts they gifted to us. According to my mother it protects us from harm. I guess in a way it did. It called out to you? What’s your name?”
“Mitsuba,” the pink haired boy replied and looked at the amulet once more, “It looks like one of my own clan. Maybe that's why I felt it when you were attacked.”
Amane was standing next to Nene, “Yashiro. Will there be a reward for helping you? We are a rather good team, if I may say about us.”
“Who are you? You look highly suspicious. A thief probably?” He was too close to her for her own comfort and so she slapped him as well. The thief stumbled back but bowed before her, “My name is Hanako and I’m offering our services to you, your Majesty.”
“Did he just say our services?!”
“Mitsuba, let me heal your cheeks,” Kou tried to touch the pink haired boy.
Nene sighed heavily. She had hoped that someone would come to help her. A knight in shining armor, handsome and polite. What did she get? A dirty thief, a pink haired girly-looking mage and a cleric who has the hots for said mage. Are those the people who are going to help her? She is doomed.
“Fine. Please help me Hanako, Mitsuba and Kou-kun. You are my only hope.”
A thief, a princess, a cleric and a mage. Now this sounds even more like a bad joke.