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Kaito trudged his feet all the way up the hill before he arrived at the palace and walked through those tall metal gates for the first time. He had spent all eight years of his life living in a village right outside of those castle walls. But now, to support his parents, the young boy went and found a decent job within the castle grounds. Kaito was always a quiet child who had never left his parents' sides except to run small chores for them, so finding work away from home was a big step outside of his comfort zone.

For Mother and Father, the boy sighed to himself as he entered the large wooden doors.

~

"Be careful with those, boy," the irritable maid snapped. "Take them down the hall and don't drop any or there’s going to be a problem."

"Yes, ma'am," Kaito replied timidly, carefully balancing a stack of very expensive plates in his arms. It would take about five trips to carry them all into the dining hall and deliver them to a much friendlier maid. The castle was alive this day as maids and servants bustled around to prepare for the young prince’s ninth birthday. Kaito had never seen the prince or even heard much about him since so little was known.

Kaito made his way down the corridor, which opened up to the courtyard on one side. The fresh air blowing in from the warm summer day comforted him. That and the fact that this was his last task for the day and he would be home soon. He didn’t know how much longer he hold his anxiety in. He wasn’t normally away from his parents for this long. Kaito gulped and pushed himself forward, almost finished transporting everything that was needed. On his fifth trip carrying the items down the corridor, the worst thing possible happened. Out of the corner of his eye, Kaito saw a large, shaggy dog come bounding through the yard. As soon as he spotted Kaito, he happily ran over and lunged at him, knocking the frail boy along with all the plates to the ground.

"No!" Kaito yelled after seeing the mess of shattered plates in front of him. He shoved off the playful dog, who had been excitedly licking his face, just as the nasty woman from earlier hurried around the corner.

"What have you done!" she screeched, blotches of red appearing her cheeks. Kaito sat trembling as she began to rant about the plates being the last of their kind and how there wouldn't be enough for each seat now and so on. Clumsy. Irresponsible. Good for nothing. Each word was like a dagger to the heart.

He wanted to run home. He wanted to go tell his parents he's not ready for any of this yet. He filled his head with the negativity that had plagued him his entire life as he imagined how his parents would react.

They’ll be disappointed, but they’ll definitely understand, Kaito reassured himself. Yeah but they'll also have to work longer and harder to feed us all. There's barely enough food on the table as it is. Kaito took a deep, shaky breath. For Mother and Father. And with that, he shut off his emotions and stood to apologize, his face blank and expressionless to keep himself from feeling anything else. He didn't even flinch as the maid raised her hand to hit him.

~

Sora was giggling relentlessly as he wrestled with one of the knight’s hunting dogs. He didn’t exactly get permission to let the dog out, but he couldn’t help himself. He was lonely in this big castle all by himself. He figured he could have some fun and return it before anyone found out. That was the plan anyway. Without warning, the dog started barking excitedly and took off through the garden and toward the inner part of the palace.

"Wait! Come back!" the Sora yelled anxiously. If anyone found out that he let out one of the dogs to play with, then his father would find out for sure. And he would not be happy at his son's immaturity, even though the boy was only nine years old.

Panting heavily, Sora got to the courtyard in time to see the dog knock down a dark haired boy. A loud shattering noise immediately followed. When the maid showed up, Sora was about ready to take off until he noticed the servant taking the brunt of his mistake. He sighed and grudgingly decided to go over and explain. On his way, he saw the maid raise her hand to the boy in the midst of all her screaming. All fear gone, Sora was unable to hold back the rage boiling inside.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

~

Kaito calmly stared the woman in the eyes when he suddenly heard a nearby voice yell out angrily. The woman jerked her hand back in surprise, her anger replaced by fear. "Prince Sora!" she exclaimed.

The prince? Kaito looked over to see a boy with hair so blond it looked almost white in the sun and eyes a much lighter blue than his own dark blue ones. He was dressed in all white with buttons and chains of gold adorning his shirt. Kaito’s eyes widened. He had never seen anyone like him. On the outside, the two boys looked and acted like polar opposites, but they both shared a similar loneliness that they kept hidden inside.

"It's not his fault," the prince stated with his eyes narrowed at the woman. "If there's a problem, fix it. Don't stand there wasting time. What makes you think it's okay to hit a child?"

The woman was speechless. There was no way she could talk back to the king's son. Kaito hesitantly decided to speak up before things could get any worse.

“It- It’s nothing to worry about, Sire. I apologize for the mess.” It was bad enough that the woman was mad, and now the prince had somehow gotten involved? Kaito wanted nothing more than to hide and get the attention off of himself.

The prince tilted his head at Kaito curiously. "You, come with me," he ordered and started to walk back across the courtyard with the dog trotting happily at his side.

Kaito shifted uncomfortable and his heart rate speeds up. What would the prince want with me? he wondered. “But I'm work..."

"Shh!" the maid hissed. "Know your place and do as he says. You're done for today." With that, Kaito scrambled off to catch up with the young prince. He kept his head down, nervous to be next to someone with such importance.

"I'm sorry for getting you in trouble," Sora said after he heard Kaito approach from behind. They walked side by side with the slobbery mutt between them.

"You don't have to apologize to me, Sire."

The young prince looked annoyed. "You can call me Sora. And what do I call you?"

"I’m Kaito," the boy answered quietly. Kaito rarely got the chance to socialize with anyone his age. He’d only ever gotten to know travelers who would stop in his parent’s shop but they never stayed for long. Not to mention there were the older boys from better-off families who would pick on him whenever he strayed too far from his parents. It was hard for him to place trust in new people.

“Oh! Your name means 'ocean!’ And I’m named after the sky,” Sora announced proudly, satisfied by his education. He paused to face Kaito, who stood there awkwardly as the prince did nothing but stare into his eyes. “Your eyes are dark like the ocean, too. And the sky matches my eyes on days like this. When I’m around, Mother says it feels like she’s already outside.” Sora raised his hands into the air theatrically and closed his eyes as he tilted his face up to the sun. Kaito couldn’t recall ever meeting someone with so much liveliness.

“Um... Can you tell me where we’re going?”

Sora lowered his arms and looked at the boy. “After I put this dog back we’re going to stop at the medical ward.”

“The medical ward? Why?”

Sora looked at him in surprise. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

“What are you…?” He followed Sora’s gaze to his arm, where a long gash left blood stains on his torn sleeve. “Oh. I didn’t even notice,” he said, realizing he must have fallen onto one of the shards. Kaito gently lifted the sleeve and inspected the injury to make sure it wasn’t deep. “It’s nothing to worry about. Look, it’s even stopped bleeding. You don’t have to go through the trouble.”

Sora laughed and threw his arm around the boy’s neck. “You’re tough. But come on. What harm will it do? Father says I have to report to the court healer whenever I get hurt just to be safe.”

“That’s probably because you’re important,” Kaito said dejectedly, fully aware that no one would care if a lowly peasant like him needed help. “You’re next in line for the throne, right Prince Sora? I’m a simple town boy.”

Again Sora looked annoyed at being reminded of his title. “What does that matter? Let’s just get you taken care of.”

Together they walked around the palace and got the dog back to where it belonged before heading inside. Kaito mainly kept quiet and listened to the prince as he filled the silence with a very one-sided conversation. Kaito couldn’t understand how someone he just met could be so kind to him, and not just anyone. The prince of all people came to his rescue! Even the guards, who were nothing more than commoners allowed in palace, spoke with an air of superiority and arrogance. But he found the prince’s voice comforting, and for the first time since he stepped outside the town, Kaito felt at ease.

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