His Other Half (KiriBaku)

Chapter 37

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
        Hey guys, seriousness for a minute.
I know I've been on an unannounced hiatus. For those of you that know why, thank you for your support, and for those that don't, thank you for your patience.
        That being said, this will be the last update of 2022, as I am now going on an official Hiatus. I will be leaving my home and all devices for an extended time, and will not have access until January of 2023.
        I love you all and appreciate all the feels you've given me over the past two years. Please continue to support this story and my others while I am gone, and I promise I will continue all the juicy details when I return. Remember to vote and comment, as it helps new people to discover the story.
        Again, thank you.

October 29th, XX84
-The Queen's Throneroom-

        Prince Katsuki's nightmares faded slowly, though not completely. His jumpiness receded so that he never startled with Ei again. The pain from catching his lover's raw, panicked desperation as he rushed to help him burned fresh behind his eyes every time they met each other, and somehow that memory lingered more than the adrenaline rush itself. 

        But Katsuki knew that it lingered because the last time he'd seen Eijiro look that desperate, he'd been taken from him. Saving him, again. And Katsuki hated that because until recently, he hadn't thought of himself as one that would ever need saving. Until recently, he hadn't thought there was anyone who could save him.

        Regardless of what Katsuki thought, there were those in the castle hellbent on protecting him, though his ever-present shadows had become marginally less irritable lately.

        Eijiro had stopped taking the liberty of staying in Katsuki's rooms at night, giving him space and time alone, and while Katsuki absolutely detested it at first... it helped. Oddly, it helped.  He could sleep in his own rooms now, alone, dark or light or with strange noises and a breeze blowing through the curtains. He felt safe again.

        It had taken him a few nights to realize that if he needed Ei, all he had to do was pad down the hall and knock. He felt safe again, but he didn't have to feel lonely.

       Being flanked by more guards than usual might have helped.

        Whenever Eijiro couldn't be at his side, Fumikage was never far. The crow master had stopped submitting his complaints to the queen when the bird threatened to beak the poor man. Though it meant abandoning his post in the mail tower, Fumikage's near-permanent roost became the young prince's shoulder. He took to fleeing whenever Eijiro came near; he couldn't stand the flirting, nor the kissing. Courting in general seemed to ruffle his feathers, as he was also like that with Izuku whenever Prince Shoto bothered to show himself.

        And Eijiro had become... friendlier, was a word for it, though perhaps not the right one. With the three steadfast allies of his on their diplomatic mission to Keitoro, his competition seemed to feel the need to fill the excess empty space suddenly available at his dining table. Challenges and arm wrestling became far too common during lunch and dinner, raucous shouting echoing through the halls and often coupled with the sound of a splintering table. 

        If only the Shindos would warm up that quickly, but even two weeks after the duel that crippled Argo's traitor, the duke and duchess remained as frosty and stubborn as ever. But the prince thought his headache couldn't take much more of Duchess Shindo's shrill screaming, genuinely considering the benefits of banishing her to Riux while she argued with the council.

        Though, less an argument now, really, as the debate had long since devolved into shameless and profane deprecation. Her mouth could have put even Katsuki's insults to shame, a tirade against him, the queen, her 'commoner husband', the Cour, the 'prince's whore', and even Yo, her own son.