Always Yours

Camellia Petals

Dazai, as should come as no surprise, was the middle child—and as such, had very little expectation for his own advancement. Born to a lord, yes—a high one—but with an older brother who would surely present as an alpha, Dazai was left with one task: to be the back up heir. Not a particularly stressful existence—and that suited him just fine. It left him free to his own studies, with very little pressure, especially as a child—

He was simply given one obligation: to marry a well-bred omega, and to expand their family's influence through such a match.

Which was how he ended up forced into expensive robes, holding his father's hand as he was dragged in front of a crib, staring down at a pinched, flushed little face—wrinkling his nose with distaste.

"What's that?"

Mori smiles apologetically, squeezing his fingers tightly. "Excuse him, he's—going through a phase."

Fukuzawa kneels beside him, placing one hand on his shoulder, pointing to the little creature, "That, is your future mate."

Dazai is only 6, but he's old enough to understand that's what his parents are, and—

"It can't even talk."

"Yes, well, babies grow," Mori mutters, clearly irritated as he looks over to Lady Nakahara apologetically, and she just smiles.

"It won't be until you're much older, he'll be talking plenty by then," she has a kind face, and beautiful, long red hair—Dazai doesn't think he'd mind being betrothed to the little gremlin in the crib; if it looked a little bit more like her. "His name is Chuuya."

His eyes slowly drift back down to the crib, and...

Dazai supposes, as far as babies go, Chuuya isn't the ugliest one that he's ever seen. There are small tufts of red hair, peeking out from under his blankets—and big blue eyes, and those actually aren't ugly at all.

"..." Dazai creeps a little closer, wrapping his fingers around the bars of the crib as he gets a better look, his head tilting to the side. "...He's gonna be mine?" Dazai asks slowly, because that's how everyone always talks about it.

Mori makes a face, but Lord Nakahara nods, approving. "Yes, lad." His hand rests on top of Dazai's head—and Fukuzawa has always been a little bit more relaxed than other alphas—so he allows the Lord to get a little closer to their son than Mori would like, but—

It's not up to him, is it?

His older sister, Kouyou—she had already been promised to Dazai's elder brother, Odasaku. And both marriages would be likely to help end the mounting tensions between the north, and the south.

For that, Mori can tolerate the posturing.

He kneels down beside Dazai, who leans into the omega, holding his arms out expectantly, and Mori does pick him up, because he can't help but dote on the little boy,

"You two are going to make this country a better place," the raven haired man explains, and Dazai can't really grasp how he's supposed to do that but—

But he doesn't hate the idea. It doesn't seem that hard.

The betrothal is sealed with a gift—a small box that Dazai presents awkwardly, and Lady

Nakahara accepts with a gracious smile.

"Say goodbye, love—you won't be seeing him again for quite a while."