Forever With You

Ten

"Breakfast is served, my lady," Eita said grandly, placing a small plate, with a very small serving of scrambled eggs in front of little Aiko. Hitoka watched her daughter as she reached for the eggs curiously, and giggled when she finally touched them.
"And also for you... my lady," he murmured just over her head, placing an adult sized plate in front of her, filled with a bigger portion of eggs, and lightly buttered toast on the side, cut into half diagonally. He also placed a glass of chilled juice beside her plate, and made sure everything was perfect. Ironic, that he should be picky about how everything looked. Maybe he should thank Kenjiro for that. Maybe.
"Thank you," she said quietly, keeping an eye on her baby, and watching him serve himself. "You... surprise me." She blinked and blushed. Eita kept his amusement in check; it was obvious she didn't mean to say that out loud. Still, he had to know what she meant by that.
"I do? How so?"
She fell silent, and focused on feeding her daughter.
"Yacchan?"
She finished feeding Aiko a bit of eggs, and then turned to face him.
"My apologies. I didn't mean to say that, your grace."
"So formal," he chided gently. He smiled so she knew he was teasing her, and she visibly relaxed.
"You surprise me, your grace," she repeated. "With the exception of Prince Kuroo and Prince Tsuki, you're the only other royal to not insist on having a servant do the work for you."
"Well, why make someone else do what I'm perfectly capable of doing?"
Eita saw the color bloom on her face again. "That makes sense, I guess," she added quietly, turning back to Aiko.

Kei told him he should just ask, and he really did want to ask her about... well, everything. Where is she originally from, what brought her to the Crow Islands, what was it that made her panic so much that she passed out? But... it felt like he'd be intruding upon her privacy, and it hadn't even been a week since he first met her. Eita stifled a sigh, and slowly began to eat his own breakfast.

They ate in silence, broken only by Aiko's babbling and laughter. It wasn't uncomfortable by any means, just a little awkward, maybe. Eita finished his breakfast, and watched the pair. From all that he's seen so far, Hitoka seemed to draw strength from her daughter. Aiko was her entire world. It was a beautiful sight, and he couldn't help feeling just a tiny bit jealous. Which was utterly ridiculous. Still...

"Your grace?"
Just from the slight shake in her voice, he could tell she was nervous.
"Yeah?"
She exhaled slowly. "I know you want to know about me, right?"
"Yeah. But only if you want to tell me."
She bit her lip, and Eita's heart stuttered at the sight. Hitoka was beautiful, and he couldn't help staring.
"Well, since you've been here with me..."
"Please don't think I did any of this to get answers out of you," he said quickly.
"I don't," she assured him. "But, you're curious, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
After she was silent for a few more minutes, she reached over and took Aiko out of her high chair, and held her in her arms, slowly rocking the baby.
"Ask me," she told him simply. "Ask me what you want to know."

~*~

Hitoka waited nervously for his first question, wondering if he'd ask about yesterday. She fought the urge to start playing with Aiko to calm herself.

"Where are you from? Originally, that is."
She sighed with relief, and he smiled gently to encourage her.
"Shiratorizawa," she replied. "I was born there, but I was sent away and haven't returned."
"Sent away?" When?"
"I was eight years old. My mom..." she took a shaky, pained breath, "my mom sent me away to live with family in Japan."
"Did she ever tell you why?"
"No, but I found out several months later. There was a fever that was making people sick, all over the island."
"Right. I remember," he said, nodding at her surprise. "I was sent away, too," he told her. "My parents sent me here, actually. It's how I met Tetsu."
"Really? That explains a few things," she smiled wryly.
"Yeah," he chuckled, and then grew serious again. "So... why haven't you come back?"
Hitoka shrugged. " I didn't have a reason to come back. After the fever swept the island, and they finally found a way to combat it, I found out that I was an orphan. No family left to speak of, other than the people who took me in."
"Didn't you say..."
"We are just related, Duke. I don't consider them family, and vice versa!"
Hitoka startled herself by speaking loudly, and she noticed him wincing when she used his title.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me."
"It's fine. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," though she cuddled Aiko a little closer. "My mom always sent money to them to help with my care and things like that," she explained. "For several months, everything was fine. I was on my best behavior, like my mom told me to be, and they were at least friendly and kind."
He nodded, understanding where this was going.
"But then the money ran out, didn't it?"
She nodded, burying her nose in Aiko's hair, and kissing her head. "Yeah. It wasn't like they stopped caring for me completely, but it just... wasn't the same anymore. Things started changing; instead of new clothes, I got hand-me-downs, and they didn't always fit. They fed me, but I had to take my meals either before the rest of them ate, or after. I wasn't allowed to sit with them anymore. They weren't mean. It was more like they were indifferent. They didn't really care about me anymore."
"Yacchan..."
"Once I realized they'd only cared about the money, I stopped caring, too. When I was old enough, I got a job to earn a little money. I couldn't be officially on the payroll, because my cousins would want their "fair share," so my employers paid me cash. It was hard, I couldn't have a bank account, so I had to find a way to save the money I didn't spend on myself." She smiled. "My teacher from high school, Takeda-sensei, helped me out. He kept my money for me."
"You were lucky to have him."
"Yeah," she sighed and stood up to walk around. Duke Semi did as well. "Oh, you don't have to stand, your grace!"
"I don't mind. I need a little stretch, too."
"And you should at least try to help Prince Kuroo celebrate his birthday," she said sweetly. "He was looking forward to you being here, you know."
"He was?"
"Yeah. One would say he was excited you were coming."
Duke Semi smiled, and Hitoka couldn't look away. He was entirely too handsome when he was happy. Luckily, Aiko broke the moment by patting her face and whimpering. And she noticed something else, too.
"If you'll excuse us a moment, your grace?" she asked as she went to her bedroom and began to change her daughter's nappy.
He rolled his eyes and chuckled. "I'll wait right here."
"I think you should at least go to his birthday dinner, your grace," she called from her bedroom. She glanced at the clock. 3:17pm. "They're all probably wondering what happened to you."
"Kei made my excuses," he answered. "Besides, I'd rather be here with you. And little Aiko."
"Don't let me keep you here and away from Prince Kuroo's party. I'm fine now, thanks to you. Besides, I'm no one special, your grace," she said as she came back out. His lovely brown eyes were focused on her.
"I think you are," he said softly.

Hitoka couldn't think of a single thing to say after that.

Which turned out to be a good thing, because the next thing she knew, two little boys burst into the room, past Duke Semi, and wrapped themselves around her legs. She smiled down at them, little hands clutching her skirts and trying to pull her down to them. When she looked back up, she found Prince Kuroo and Prince Tsuki standing alongside Duke Semi, all of them watching her and the boys.

"Told you I couldn't keep them away for long," Prince Tsuki said to the duke.
"I'm amazed you managed it this far," he replied with irony. He turned to Prince Kuroo and smiled. "Happy birthday, Tetsu. How's it going so far?"
Prince Kuroo snorted. "Excruciating," he replied sarcastically. "They keep asking questions without trying to look as curious as they are. Our excuses for you aren't working as well as we'd hoped."
Duke Semi's amused gaze fell on her. She shrugged, and he rolled his eyes again.
"I guess I should put in an appearance," he finally said.
"Nah, don't worry about it."

Hitoka listened to them chat while she knelt down to give all her attention to the boys. Haru was all smiles and chattered a mile a minute, telling her about his friends, and then switching to saying how much he missed her and Aiko. Yuki, by stark contrast, was quiet and serious. It seemed he was still concerned about her by the way he tried to gain her attention with little tugs on her skirt and pats on her leg. But with Aiko in her arms, she couldn't hug her boys like they wanted her to.

"Need some help?" a familiar voice asked her, sounding amused.
"Yes, thank you," she replied, passing Aiko to him, and ignoring the startled looks on all of their faces to gather up two little boys in her arms. "I missed you two so much!"
"Mama okay now?" Haru asked, and both boys looked up at her, waiting for her answer.
"Yes, I'm okay now that you're here."

~*~

"What have you done to our Yacchan?" Tetsu asked as soon as Eita came back to them with Aiko in his arms.
"What do you mean?"
"She hasn't looked this happy in quite a while, which leads me to think you've done something."
"Unfair assessment. I've done nothing."
"Liar," Tetsu said gently, holding out his hands for Aiko. She squealed and held out her arms to Tetsu and he took the baby from him. While he doted on the little girl, Kei came to stand next to him.
"You stayed with her, even when you didn't have to. You cared for her, made sure she had whatever she needed. Before that, you gave her time to get used to you being around. She never gives her child over to anyone she doesn't trust." Kei placed a hand on his shoulder, something he rarely did, and Eita gave him his full attention. "She trusts you. I'd even go so far as to say she cares for you."
"Yeah, well..." he was at a loss for words, and turned to look at her playing with the boys.
"You like her."
"Yeah, I do."
"I'd say it was more than that," Tetsu added.
Eita shrugged. "Maybe."
"Love can happen anytime, and anywhere. Trust me." Tetsu's gray eyes found those of Kei's golden brown, and Eita almost had to take a step back from the force of their love for each other. "Love doesn't follow any rules but its own. It can be instantaneous, or take a while for the spark to ignite. All it really needs are the right two people in the right place at the right time."
"And you're saying it happened for Yacchan and I?"
"Yep."

All Eita could think about was that he hoped so. He really hoped so.