The Merman and the Prince

Chapter 22

Kagami's Pov

After the pirate captain left me I sat for a moment longer, the hat I had shielding my face from view. I knew he was right, damn him. I had been so hot and cold with Aomine. There was something about him that drew me in but I had lived so long in secret and shielding my heart that I kept pushing him away. I couldn't be happy, I couldn't be close to people they would just die or get hurt. He was pirate as well. A part of my mind argued that Akashi was a pirate as well and Kuroko seemed happy. I shook the thought away and if it had summoned then I saw Kuroko and Aomine walking down the street, talking excitedly as they headed into one of the shops, neither of them looked my way. I felt a twinge in my chest when they did.

"Oi, we're going hunting!"

I looked up at the new voice to see Kise standing with Akashi. The blonde held two spears and Akashi a powerful long bow, a quiver of arrows on his back.

"Why? Aomine and I brought back some meat yesterday."

"We need to get some for our ship. The meat will have to be smoked and salted for the journey so we best get it done today."

I glanced at the shop again, half wanting to go to them but Akashi leant forward, his eyes seeming to look deep into my mind.

"Do you have anything better to be doing?"

I shook my head and Kise held out the butt of the spear for me to grab and pulled me to my feet.

"Lead the way."

The hunt carried late into the afternoon and Kise and I had both bagged two large bucks while Akashi had taken down a few birds. Kise and I were dragging the carcasses behind us when he asked casually.

"So do you like Aominecchi?"

I jerked at the words and felt my cheeks heat up.

"He's a pirate."

"Of the Teiko kingdom."

I looked over to see him staring at me with his bright yellow eyes, a smirk on his face.

"He has probably lived just as long as you have and has many more years left in him. There are worse matches out there."

Akashi stopped in front of us and grabbed the rope from my hands and pointed to a small pathway that led away from the town.

"You need to go that way."

"Why?"

"You will see when you get there. Later Kagamicchi!"

I winced as the blonde gave me a nickname and winked as he followed Akashi back to the town. I hesitated for a moment, wondering what they had planned and shrugged my shoulders before heading down the path. If they were going to betray me Kasamatsu could have easily got rid of me on the trip over and there were plenty of times that I had let my guard down. I hated to admit it but I had grown to respect these Teiko pirates.

The path was long and the shadows had grown long by the time I made my way to a clearing where I stopped dead in my tracks. Aomine stood up from where he had been sitting and smiled at me. A picnic blanket had been spread on the ground and I could smell a delicious aroma from the plates of food before him. The clearing we were in was beautiful. Small lights were strung up between the trees and small tea lights were floating on the pond beside where Aomine was standing.

"What is all this?"

He moved forward and grabbed my hand, lifting it to his mouth and kissing it.

"Our first date. Will you dine with me?"

My heart thumped in my chest and I nodded, allowing him to lead me to the blanket. The dishes were all my favourite, sweet dumplings, barbequed meat and veg kebabs and a strong dark ale to drink.