The lost Prince

Chapter 3

It was half a year later when Akira took the boy for the first time back into town. He and Kentaro talked about it long enough and they agreed that it was a good sign that Ryutaro wasn't jolting by the slightest noise any longer.
Akira on the other hand was nervous. He knew that this day would come because Taro at some point had to get used to people, not to mention communicate with them. Taro answered them as best as he could but deeper meaning conversations were still out of the question. The boy was however clever enough t ask questions like 'where did I come from?' A question which no one of them could answer.... yet. The boy couldn't remember anything. All he recalled was that he was hold in a dark tiny room and that no one spoke to him. An unknown person shoved food into his cell every day and his only trinket back then was a little wooden horse on wheels which he had lost during his hasty release. Akira believed that it was a deep rooted trauma which made Taro forget everything about his past.
The day he was released, a man came for him but he couldn't see him. They covered his face with a sack and the next thing he knew was that he was standing on grass and the man tried to teach him how to walk in moving Taro's feet from behind with his own. It was in vain and took him several hours. After that, he was released in the town of Nuremberg with the letters in his hands and that was it.
It made Akira furious and he had asked Taro many times whether he recalled anything else but Taro really couldn't remember. What they were certain of was, that Taro had nightmares and who could blame him. Majority of his dreams were about getting chased and locked away but he never knew by whom.
Akira's efforts to get his hands onto the baptism books of the southern Germany Royals, proved to be more difficult than anticipated. All churches declined access because it was only allowed with a special warrant from the police. And God knew he was working on that.

Over time, it had become a beautiful ritual for Ryutaro to hold every person's hand when he was guided or taken somewhere, just like a child. But now and then they caught him giving unsuspected witty answers or asking interesting questions. He was a curious little fellow.

Akira and Taro approached the town from a lovely little side street which was almost too narrow for a cart to pass through. The half-timber houses looked tipsy and stood tight together, the cobble stone made it hard for Ryutaro to walk. Akira gave him time to get used to it and held his arm tight to make sure that he didn't fell.
"Where are we going?" Taro looked up from underneath his black top hat. They had dressed him up nicely with a black frock coat and brown woolen trousers.
"Into town, I want you to get used to people Taro. Because one day, you will have to work and earn your own money." They had these conversations a dozen times before but the principle was still hard for Ryutaro to understand. "If you see something you don't understand, you can ask me okay?" Taro nodded. Within this moment, a door was loudly shut and the young man jumped. Akira patted his shoulder with his free hand and murmured that everything was okay, that it was just a door.
Over time, Akira had observed that Taro hardly moved his body. He walked slowly and his gestures when talking or smiling were non existing. It was the same now in town. Although he was very curious he hardly moved his head, only his eyes wandered around. Taro behaved like a living doll, as if he didn't want to pull any attention to himself.
Akira showed him how to greet people by tipping the brim of his hat. It took him several attempts before he had the heart to do so. Tiny steps but they would eventually get there.

They passed a little fountain in between the housing area and children were playing with water. Their laughter filled the streets and it was a beautiful sight to see. Taro first widened his eyes before the hint of a smile came over his lip. There was something about this pure joy which filled people's hearts and especially Taro's. He was very emphatic. Akira halted and they observed the scenery together before continuing on their way. "They are about the same age as my boy and girl.." Taro looked up at Akira. "You do have children?"
"Yes, two and the third is soon to be born." They didn't go into detail about that matter yet. Thankfully Taro didn't ask any further.
The closer they got to the market place, the more people surrounded them. Akira could feel how Taro tried to get closer to him, his hands stiff in agitation but he didn't say a word. He made his way in uneasy steps and tried to hide behind his half cut bangs and top hat. Akira became so good in reading him that he seriously considered to turn around and call it a day. That was before people started noticing them and started to whisper. Akira halted and so did Taro. A loud voice among the crowd shouted: "That's the boy!" And that was it. People turned around, some even walked towards them to have a look and soon they were surrounded. Akira encircled Taro's shoulder with one arm while people were building up around them and it got louder. Taro started breathing out loud in panic, his grip on Akira's arm was almost painful. He ignored the annoying questions and looked around in panic.... that was when the market place's police noticed the bulk of people and they whistled out loud to break the circle.....