A/N: Wow it's been ages since this was updated. Forgive me for that. It seems that my two fairy tale fics go hand in hand so if one gets updated the other one follows. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It was hard getting back into writing them though. I suppose the only remedy for that is to update them more often. We'll see how that goes though. I was afraid that this wouldn't be long enough. My Prince of Princes (PoP) one wasn't but It seems I didn't have to worry about this one though. In fact I could've made this chapter much longer but I didn't want it to drone on. I'll just save the Jin segment as its own chapter. I just hope that his chapter won't fall short on the length. In any case enjoy!
Disclaimer: Room cleaning leads to procrastination which leads to updating a random fanfic…
Sleeping Beauty: A Rikkai Dai Reproduction
Chapter 4: The Decision
In which a prince is lied to
"I'm going with you."
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"No, you're not," Sanada bit out as he packed more of his belongings. Ignoring his guard once more he side stepped around Jin to get his toiletries.
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"You can't stop me from coming even if you tried," Jin called out to him. "I'm your body guard. It's my duty."
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Sanada stared up at Jin, his mind struggling to find the words to dissuade him without setting him off even more. But he knew there existed none.
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"It's a suicide mission," Sanada attempted to explain; "I won't have your blood staining my hands as well."
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"Then why are you even going?" Jin asked as he settled on the prince's bed already littered with his personal belongings.
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"Because if there's a slight possibility of succeeding I have to try. If not then I have no right to call myself a prince."
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"You have no right to call yourself a prince if you have so little faith in your abilities."
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Sanada just glared at him the insult touching his already sensitive nerves. "I'm being realistic is all."
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"Well I'm being realistic in my strengths as well," Jin countered. "I'm not asking you to look out for me. I did fine before I met you and I'll do just fine for this journey as well."
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Sanada stared at him trying with all his might to make his bodyguard back down. But this time it didn't work. This time Jin kept that stare without wavering in his resolve. While this irked him, Prince Sanada couldn't help but feel proud of his guard whom he'd known for so long.
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"I'll just follow you," he added, "and wouldn't that be even more dangerous Prince Sanada?"
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Sanada turned around to head for the kitchen, intent on packing some food for the long journey back to his kingdom.
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"Do as you wish," he called out behind him, relenting to his guard.
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"Just don't expect me to bail you out when it all goes downhill…"
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Jin just grinned.
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He couldn't have asked for anything better.
Everything was packed and they were set to leave at dawn.
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He was busy going over the book that Inui showed him earlier, trying to see if he could decipher anything that the alchemist was unable to. But Alchemist Inui is known for being thorough to a fault so Sanada wasn't counting on finding anything that Inui hadn't already told him.
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He looked around him. He was outside nestled in the garden with the aromas of the flowers and edible plants mixing around him. This was his favorite place to be besides the training rooms. Here everything was calm and quiet which is a rarity in itself around these parts. He was going to miss this place. All of it, including the castle and the classes. He might even go as far as to say that he'll miss the other princes with their wide range of colorful personalities.
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He hadn't been here as long as the others but little by little they all came to mean something important to him. He learned and experienced more here than he had in his own kingdom. Never one for social companionship, Sanada can say that he'll be leaving here having made friends of all walks of life.
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He just hoped that'll he'll survive long enough to come back to them all.
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Sanada sighed giving up on perusing this book any deeper. The other secrets that it was keeping from him will remain a secret for now at least. He had too much going on to put any real in depth effort into decrypting any codes it taunted him with.
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Prince Sanada looked up at the sky noting the midday sun. By this time tomorrow he'll be long gone and facing a mission far worse than anything he had ever come into contact with before.
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How daunting a task it seemed for just a lone prince as him.
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But he wouldn't have it any other way.
Sanada began walking to Inui's workplace. He spends most of his time holed up in there so it's a safe bet that Sanada would find him tinkering away in there as well. Making his way down the stone steps Sanada noted with a feeling of relief that no bodies littered the room any longer. While it may be a regular occurrence it still didn't make him apathetic to the scene. When he saw Jin in the same state as the other Princes one time it was a struggle to keep his true feelings from showing.
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Hushed voices stalled his progress. Even though the prince found eavesdropping to be beneath him the urgency in their tone prevented him from respecting their privacy by leaving and coming back at a later time. He recognized one of the voices as the alchemist Inui. It took a few tries to realize that the other person he was talking with was in fact Prince Fuji, a self labeled genius with the proof to back it up.
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"So you're letting him go," Fuji accused Inui having cornered him once again after finding all the facts.
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"It's not like I can stop him," Inui said trying to reason with him. Princes can be so hard to deal with. "He would have found some other way to leave."
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"He wouldn't have a reason to if you hadn't told him."
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"So you want me to hide the very information that was the reason he came to this school in the first place?"
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"Oh that's rich coming from you Inui," Fuji mocked, his cool demeanor cracked for once, "considering how you're hiding a lot more from him than you're letting on."
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"I don't see how it's any of your concern."
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"If you're sending one of my friends on a suicide mission without giving him more information to help his survival then yeah, it is my concern."
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Inui just turned his back on Fuji, having considered the conversation closed already. Fuji however wasn't giving up, determined to get to the bottom of this in ordered to help out his friend in any way possible.
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"I take it that you're not going to tell him then?"
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Prince Sanada decided then to come out from hiding in an attempt to get the answers that Inui wasn't telling either of them. Both Fuji and Inui turned around expressions of surprise and guilt clouding their faces. Sanada stared at them both trying to read from their bodies what their mouths weren't saying.
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"Tell me what?" he asked frankly.
Jin had locked himself in the dojo sparring with the shadows dancing on the walls in an attempt to build up on the strength he always kept in check. So his prince doubted his abilities? He could live with that. It'll just be that much more rewarding when he proved Sanada wrong.
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Jin could never resist a challenge.
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He spoke better with his fists instead of with a sword and sheath. That, he left up to Sanada. As he danced around the dojo building up a sweat his mind focused not on his imaginary foes but on how he met Sanada and became his body guard.
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As clichéd as it was it seemed like it was just yesterday instead of years ago when he was still an orphan in an unwelcoming land.
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During a revolution at an unforgiving time.
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And it was at that time he met Sanada and gave his vow that he'll forever protect him for the rest of days.
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That held true and and sure as hell holds true now.
Ange: Yea I realized the title doesn't fit with this chapter but the thesaurus can only help so much. Forgive the ooc yet again. I have to find a way to break that habit. Fuji especially this time around . So review cause that really makes my day! Till next time…