The Gray Prince-- Kagehina

Chapter 9: Care to Dance?

"What is the elemental table?" Hinata asked about halfway through their first lesson, remembering what Soren had told him before. He didn't mind Errol, he was a kind man, but years stealing from people had taught him to read people. And his instincts told him that his teacher held secrets.

"The elemental table is a group of the most powerful four families. Their abilities include the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire. But since your father, the only member of the Burner clan, died the Seers have taken their place. You know what a Seer is right?"

"Um... no?"

"Seers are people that can read your thought and reach your memories. They can even pull out dreams you have long forgotten," Hinata cringed as he recalled the woman that had met him in the prison cell. All of the painful memories and nightmares that he had been dragged through came back to him in flying colors. He frowned and looked down at his hands.

"I see you have met with one of them." Hinata nodded not wanting to remember that. He couldn't believe that it was still only the day before, he had already changed so much. If Noya could see him now, Hinata could only imagine what he would say. "When you are older you may be able to take back your spot on the elemental table. Or at least you will still be in a high house, they're all still powerful but not powerful enough to be at the table."

"So the king is part of this table?"

"Yes, he is the king after all," Errol looked down at the giant watch on his wrist. "Ah, it's time for lunch already."

Errol's lessons were a highlight in Hinata's day. He had never liked school at home, so he mostly just skipped, but he made the lessons fun and engaging. It took him a while to get used to the strange man's quirks, but after a week of lessons he had started to look forward to them. "I've taught you all you need to know to be an acceptable prince including manners and simple math and sciences."

"Yes, and?" He asked earnestly. Hinata had come to trust the man and the 9 hours he spent with him every day had only felt like minutes to him.

"While we have been training, a victor has been chosen for Prince Kageyama," Errol looked down at his pupil. "There will be a party celebrating all the families that competed."

"That sounds fun!" Hinata said in excitement, his eyes shining.

"Yes, there will be... dancing, eating, drinking-."

"Dancing?" His jaw dropped to the floor in horror. Hinata knew that he had absolutely no rhythm in that small body of his. "Will I have
to-"

"Absolutely. You and the prince will have to dance with your betrothed, alone," Errol sighed and stood up, understanding his horror. "I used to be a gifted dancer, so I will be your teacher. The party is in 7 days time so I will teach you what I know."

Errol was a good teacher in history and social studies, but not so much dancing. For 2 days Hinata struggled to take 3 steps before tripping over his own feet. He was stood silently in his room praying that dancing skills would magically be cast upon him when there was a knock on his door. He trudged across the floor to the door and opened it, not bothering to ask who was on the other side. "K-Kageyama?!" He could barely process the person in front of him, a casually dressed prince with perfect blue eyes. "What are you doing here?!"

"I heard you were having trouble dancing, the dinner party is soon and we can't have you embarrassing the crown now can we?" He looked away, obviously uncomfortable, and started to walk away. Hinata followed at let the tall boy lead him to a large room that was completely empty. Kageyama pulled a small box out of his pocket and pressed a button. Out of the box came a music that was light and airy, but the notes were fast and the little prince didn't think he could keep up with it. When he looked over at Kageyama he saw the he was tapping his foot to the beat and nodding his head. "You will be the male dancer for now."

"Because I'm the alpha?" Hinata giggled.

"No, you won't be tall enough to reach my shoulder." He smirked and pet his orange curls. Hinata yelled and tried to fight back, but against Kageyama he didn't stand a chance.

"Care to dance?" Hinata smirked holding out his hand with a mocking bow.

"Knock it off idiot." Kageyama strode over to him and placed his left hand on Hinata's shoulder and held out his right for the boy to hold. He placed his free hand on Kageyama's waist. "A little higher." He mumbled. There was no need to speak loudly since they were so close. He took his hand from the hopeless dancer's shoulder and slid Hinata's hand to the correct spot on his hip. Kageyama lingered only for a moment before returning to his shoulder.

"One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four." Kageyama muttered, keeping the beat for his student. And even so, his efforts were in vain. Hinata couldn't go 3 beats without stepping on Kageyama's foot, tripping over his own feet, or tripping over Kageyama's feet. It was an awful sight. He tried to focus on dancing, but he could help but drift off into his own thoughts. "Should I blame him for what happened? He did turn me in. But he's a prince, if he were to be caught letting me go, he could get in serious trouble. No, it wasn't entirely Kageyama's fault." He decided.

"So you're betrothed now?"

"Yeah, to that girl that tried to kill you in the arena." He frowned, obviously not exactly pleased with the idea.

"Ah, from your reaction I'm guessing that she's not the greatest?"

"Yeah, she's kind of a jerk. Lucy's a nice girl though, not the brightest, but she's kind. You'll be alright at least." Hinata had almost forgotten that he had a fiancé. The blonde girl he had spoken to in the throne room only once.

"Sorry!" Hinata exclaimed as he stepped on his partner's feet once again.

"Don't apologize, just keep going. One, two, three, four. One, two, three-" Kageyama was cut off by Hinata as he tripped over his mentor's foot and fell into his chest. Surprised, Kageyama fell backwards taking his dance partner with him. He careened into the cold floor with his back and Hinata on top of him. "Ouch," He moaned rubbing the back of his head. Kageyama craned his neck to look at the the boy still on top of him. "Are you alright?"

Hinata held his hands against Kageyama's chest, and for some reason felt like he couldn't move. He was frozen, but not by any kind of physical magic. Hinata stared into his eyes and wondered how deep they went, how many secrets they held, and he wanted to stare into them forever. The music in the background seemed to move in slow motion, contrary to his rapidly beating heart. Despite Kageyama's icy power, his chest felt warm under his finger tips, and the air around them seemed to thicken. "Hinata?" He was immediately snapped back into reality by his voice and forced himself to nod his head.

"Yeah I'm fine." He said back stiffly.

"Are you angry with me, for turning me in?" Kageyama changed the subject. He had seen how uptight had looked the whole night, and mistook his hesitation.

"Not really, you were forced to. I'm sure you had guards right behind you and if your father found out then you would be in a lot of trouble. A prince shouldn't give up his chance at the throne for a runaway servant."

Kageyama said nothing, but Hinata knew he agreed. "I'm sorry," There was a long silence before he spoke again. "It's almost morning, we should get back to our rooms."

"Okay." He whispered reluctantly.

"So that means you need to get off of me."

"Oh r-right!" He scrambled off of Kageyama's chest as fast as he could, he had almost forgotten that he was still on top of him. When they left the room Hinata had to walk a little behind the other boy so he could fan his flustered, dark and overheated cheeks.

=••=••=••=••=••=••=••=••=••=••=••=

Sorry for long update, hoped you liked the chapter!