Chapter Text
Ohno allows the violent whirl of his magick flare freely around him, darkness looming at the end of his mind, coldness all over every inch of his body. He is seething.
His long coat billows behind him as he marches into the depth of the Forbidden woods. He doesn’t plan to turn back and return home anytime soon—that one he knows for sure. His father and dear mother could try their best searching spells, but Ohno knows that he’d do his best to deflect anything magickal aimed at him. Hundreds of lights are already fading in the distance, and Ohno feels like he’s been running for miles. Yet he’s not going to stop anytime soon. Not when the lines of tree thicken, not when the air began to choke him with the vile of the woods.
In a hazy trance he only moves further into the woods—his light has considerably dimmed; his patience ran out; he wants nothing to be away from everything in the world right now.
An intersection comes up in his path and for once Ohno wavers—he could always go straight, not giving any heed to the two prongs of beaten track. Yet something pulls him to a standstill, breathing in what feels like the first long breath he’s taken in the last hour.
A small noise from somewhere on his left startles him.
He quickly swivels to look around, meeting nothing but darkness. Pushing through his magick he senses a weak presence close, but he still sees nothing.
With his hand now clutching the head of his sword, Ohno makes another swivel, slower this time. If it’s some magickal creature then he’d welcome the challenge. If it’s some evil woods dwellers then he’d be happy to battle them down.
He takes a careful step toward the left, now leaving the path leading to the intersection. It’d be too dangerous to stand still in the open; he’d welcome the challenge but he’s not going to endanger himself.
After all, a battle could probably drain his anger quicker.
He takes another step, feeling the presence beating stronger albeit still weak, and draws his sword.
More noises are heard—clearer this time—from behind the shrubs and Ohno takes the final step and charges forward.
Only to meet a pair of large beautiful eyes of a not small creature. Those eyes squint at him, before letting out a trembling growl.
Not a creature then, but a dog.
A magickal dog.
A cute magickal dog, at that. Its ears flap nervously and it keeps on scrunching its face, its button black nose twitching at new scents Ohno’s bringing close. Its tail waggles frantically as it tries to retreat back at the sight of Ohno, only for its butt to hit the tree stalk behind it.
Still, Ohno doesn’t lower his sword because evil can sometimes be wicked—he’s still not taking any chances.
Another growl, but it ends in a low whine this time, and that prompts Ohno to step back a hit. Without leaving his sight off the dog, he lowers down to a crouch before finally putting away his sword. “Hello.”
The small dog is shivering, now that Ohno can have a closer look he could see it in the darkness. There’s some sliver of light magick surrounding it, very weak—that’s probably that comes into his senses earlier—something like some last resort protective spells.
Slowly he lowers himself to sit on the woods floor in front of the small dog. He takes his chances and pokes the tip of the creature’s nose. “Now, what are you doing here in the woods?”
The dog flinches at the touch before staring at Ohno, his snout raised high, as if he’s trying to pull up his chin—same to you, what are you doing here in the woods, it says.
And in a weird unexplained way, the sight pulls out a small chuckle out of Ohno. If that’s what it’s asking then he decides at least he can be honest with this creature so Ohno says: “I’m running away from reality.”
The dog’s expression remains unchanged but Ohno can see it tilts its head a bit in question.
“It’s complicated,” Ohno says with a small smile. “Now, what are you doing here? And what happened to you? Are you trapped in dark magick or something?”
This time the dog growls but it’s not as threatening as the first—and confirming Ohno’s suspicion. It appears to be groomed, at least before it rolled around some dirt and ended up lost in the middle of the woods.
“Ah, I see. And can you tell who did it to you? I wouldn’t mind some good fights; I can spell them sideways and help you.”
The dog just whines, and Ohno retreats a bit. He assumes all his dark energy is clashing with the dog’s. And since the dog is already weak, it would hit him harder—he tries to suppress his magick whirls, channeling it into the darkness around them. Wounded creature often reacts negatively to strong magic and the last thing he needs to do is to stress this poor creature further.
“Did you trip over some black magick trap? Does that mean there are some magick traps around here?”
When the dog didn’t give any reaction, Ohno looks around to get a better sense of bearing.
He’s closer to the center of the darkness in the Woods now. The enticing calls from the other side are stronger here; the dark always seeks for misguided creatures and welcomes all allies—even at the cost of mortal lives. And for the first time since he set off for tonight, a sliver of brightness comes to mind—must be the effect of his empathy for the dog, Ohno sighs. It’s a wonder how anger works, and now he finds that he’s not that angry anymore—okay, maybe still a bit. but with a distraction and a new purpose he is taking a step back and reconsiders.
At least his anger can wait till he gets this dog treated; at least it’d be the right thing to do and Ohno was raised to be right before anything else.
He returns to the bush and finds that the dog hasn’t moved. Carefully, he tries to pet the dog and only resulting in a weak flinch and more whines. Ohno notices the right front paw is badly injured.
“That must’ve hurt.” Ohno tries to poke it harder, and the dog whines before giving Ohno a weak bite and closing its eyes. “Okay, okay, my apology. I’m so sorry, but we need to get that treated, and I can’t do it. you need healer help.”
After checking his surroundings again, Ohno picks up the dog—feeling its dead weight as the dog has seemed to finally lose consciousness. He carefully wraps it under his robe and makes his way back.
*
Going out of the woods is proven a bit difficult, especially since now Ohno has to be extra careful, having his focus divided between avoiding dark traps and keeping the dog safe in his hold.
By the time he’s out of the wood, he’s sweating profusely, and now that he’s no longer surrounded by darkness, he can feel the dog stronger. The magick in him has dimmed considerably—so the darkness was the thing that sustains him, and Ohno rushes to get back to the palace.
He sneaks back into the palace through the same hallway he used earlier tonight, and goes straight to Nino’s quarter.
After banging on the door for a long minute, Nino finally opens his door with his bed hair going to all directions and a pair of sleepy eyes.
Ohno only nods and Nino steps away from the door to let him in.
“You could’ve messaged me first,” Nino says as he locks his door again and leads them to the private examination room reserved for the royals. “Are you hurt or something?”
“I’m not, but he is,” Ohno says as he lays the dog on the small examination table.
For a while there’s only silence, and Ohno turns to find Nino staring at him, “Oh-chan I’m a human magick doctor.”
“You’re also the best royal healer wizard around; I’m sure you can do something.”
Nino sighs, visibly rolling his eyes but still waving his wand to summon his tools. He slowly runs his wand, and some lights flicker on the next board, showing vitals and things that Ohno doesn’t really understand. “He’s very weak. And I can sense something more than just trauma. He’s been hit with some severe dark magick. Do you know anything about this?”
“No. But I know he’s not just a dog.”
“It’d require further probing and even with that i am not sure if we can find out what it is.”
“He’s in a lot of pain,” Ohno says. “He was shivering on his way here. I think the dark magick in the woods had something to do with him.”
Nino doesn’t say anything—his hand steady as he now tries to scan the dog, but Ohno can hear his objection clearly at the mention of the woods. Nino knows what woods it would be.
For a few moments there are sparks of healing magick surrounding the dog. And Ohno stays close to watch Nino finish his diagnosis and begin his treatment with several small spells.
“And where’s Jun-kun and Aiba-chan?” Nino asks, without turning to Ohno.
You already know they’re not with me, Ohno sighs. But he answers anyway, “I don’t know.”
“How can you not know? Weren’t you with them?”
“No.”
Nino lets the magick blanket simmer as it absorbs harmful magickal pain and steps away. When he meets Ohno’s eyes—stubborn and dark, he lets out a chuckle. “Is this one of your ‘plan’ again?”
He can never lie to Nino, and it’s not something he wants to do. At least Nino can take brutal honesty and Ohno says just that. “It was, until I found him,” Ohno says as he points to the dog.
Nino runs his wand on the dog, whose whine has now reduced to faint noises. “I guess we all owe this cuteness right here from keeping you from completing your plan. Let’s see what we have here.”
Ohno only huffs but he doesn’t say anything.
Few vials of potions flying near and Nino expertly administer a few of the potions on the injured paw. With a good distraction technique, Nino manages to put a strong bandage on the paw and then he applies a few more charms.
“I can charm it stronger, Oh-chan, but I don’t think it'd be beneficial for the recovery of this small cuteness right here.”
The dog growls.
“Okay, not cute, you’re fierce as a dragon, I get it,” Nino praises him. He bops against its forehead. “But you’re still small.”
It growls louder, and Nino and Ohno laugh.
“Just make sure his front paws stay dry and he’s eating well.” Nino turns and produces a large box. “I’ll have this delivered to your quarters. It’s a care package I have readied. There’s some pain reliever, but you only recommended administering it twice a day at most. Only if he’s in pain. You should be okay for a week. Come visit again next Saturday and I’ll see his progress.”
“Okay. I owe you one.”
“You sure do,” Nino says. “He’ll be alright. Oh, by the way do you know his name?”
“He didn’t actually come with a tag.”
“Well, you need to call him by some name. It’s not nice to address him as ‘the dog’, Your Highness.”
Ohno turns and meets those large eyes. He keeps on staring for a while, and Nino is silent next to him waiting.
And just in time, the dog growls at him. For the first time since they were out of the wood those large beautiful eyes are sharper. Perhaps Nino has managed to clear the remaining magickal dust and the healing spells have started working, but Ohno could swear that those eyes changed the moment Nino mentioned his title, and they have been fixed on him since then.
Ignoring his suspicion, Ohno shrugs; now that Nino has taken care of the magickal injuries, and that he’s inside the palace again, he’s sure that there were any traces of dark magick the wards would have caught them by now. There’s nothing to be worried about, at least not now.
He turns to Nino again, considering. “That’s true. I wonder what I should call him then.”
Nino has managed to summon dog food; Ohno doesn’t even want to know from where. But swiftly he arranges a full pile in a bright red dog bowl and the dog also seems to shake off his earlier agitation toward Ohno and immediately digs in.
Ohno pokes the dog right cheek, amused at how cute it looks now with its cheeks full as it’s eagerly gobbling food. He chuckles when it completely ignores him in favor of food. “Slow down, will you?”
Nino says, “At least you don’t have to worry about him getting back in shape. With that appetite, it’s going to be quicker.”
They both watch the dog licks the bowl clean in mere minutes. And they both roll their eyes as the dog practically grins at them, shaking his butt cutely. Ohno nudges Nino and Nino complies by charming the bowl back into a full pile. Squeaking, the dog gives them both a cute bark in gratitude before attacking the food again.
“Cheeks.”
Nino snorts next to him. “Cheeks?”
“Yeah,” Ohno says with a grin. “That’s it. Cheeks.”
And Cheeks—now that Ohno can call him by name—is still ignoring them, completely focused on licking clean the last half of his bowl. Nino goes to the back and cleans up but Ohno just stands there in silence watching Cheeks finishing his food.
When Nino returns, he hands Ohno a few parchments. They then turn to see Cheeks licking off his snout and shaking his head petulantly.
“That’s cute.”
“Yeah, just like his name.”
Cheeks growls again, this time with a nose scrunch—perhaps he thought he’s being fierce but Ohno can only see cuteness.
“You have no say in this, you know. You had your chance but you picked food over it. From now on, I’m just going to call you Cheeks because these cheeks are very cute.” Ohno leans down to give a few more pokes and chuckles at the reaction he’s getting. “Your butt is cute too, but let’s not go there and call you that.”
Cheeks huffs and tries to jump off the examination table—but with Nino handily catching him before he could do so. Nino chuckles at the ridiculousness. “I can see you two have already made good friends.”
“Oh, I guess we’re gonna be more than just friends. Don’t you think so, Cheeks?”
Cheeks lets out no bark this time, and in a gesture that Ohno begins to be fond of, he pouts cutely and lifts his chin slightly while staring at Ohno from across the table.
“Yeah, if you want to be like that about it—”
In the bright room of Nino’s quarter, a real smile tugs on the corner of Ohno’s lips. He feels light somehow; the anger is still in him but his magick has calmed considerably. He knows darkness will return but tonight he’s here with a good friend and a new friend; his ‘plan’ could wait for another day.
In response, Cheeks snarls with his eyes squinted.
But Ohno knows that Cheeks doesn’t mean harm, and he’s getting a hang of this unusual way of communication. So he teases him again. “Yeah. Be like that about it.”
From a few feet away from the table, watching the exchange with a sleepy smile, Nino yawns. “Make sure you don’t forget the potions, Sir. And if that’s all respectfully I would like to return to my bed.”
“I won’t.” Ohno makes his promises. He scoops Cheeks and holds him tightly against his chest, making sure he’s bundled warmly. And he returns Nino’s bow with one of his own. “I’ve been disturbing your rest. I appreciate the help. Thanks, Nino.”
Nino only bows before escorting Ohno and Cheeks out of the examination room and bids them good night.
*
The trip back to his quarter is uneventful. It’s already very late at night so the guards are only nodding at him thinking that he just returned from the other part of the palace—no one knew about him leaving the palace hours ago. And for once Ohno is grateful for making sure he had taken proper magickal precaution before.
He goes straight to the living room of his quarter and is pleased to see Nino has made sure that the servants have readied the fire and some refreshment. The care package boxes for Cheeks are already stacked neatly next to his desks.
And when he looks down, he finds Cheeks is already dozing in his hold, probably down for the night from all the healing spells Nino cast on him. Perhaps it would be too tiring for both of them to set up anything tonight, he considers. Perhaps it’d be better to wait for morning after all.
With his wand, Ohno scans the boxes and finds one with the blankets. He charms it to follow him toward the chaise longue near the fire. He lets the box unpack itself and begins to arrange the corner for Cheeks to settle in for the night. He lies Cheeks down in the middle of the soft piles and then summons some more towels from his bathroom.
He doesn’t want to disturb his rest; sure, Nino has taken care most of the injuries, and that he could now growl rather threateningly to Ohno, but he still has the image of Cheeks in the middle of the Woods looking helpless and in pain.
Checking and then double checking, he makes sure he has everything within reach—including Nino’s emergency potion for pain and also a bowl of water for Cheeks. He checks up on Cheeks one last time, pleased to see him deep in sleep and curled up cutely.
Fatigue finally hits him, and without another thought Ohno takes off his robe and boots. He summons a blanket for him and settles next to Cheeks. Watching Cheeks’ even breathing and the rhythmical rise and fall of his tummy, Ohno lets out a sigh.
Safe.
And a moment later he falls into a peaceful asleep
Tendrils of nightmares linger at the far end of his mind, even if Ohno could feel them lurking and waiting for their chance. Yet somehow the ball of warmth next to him works better than any sleeping enchantments he knows of. And weak light magick glimmers near, ensconcing him—and Cheeks—together in protection.
However, no magick can alter reality; Ohno startles awake at the loud knocks followed by loud steps entering his quarter. His loud trusting guards, Ohno hates them so much most of the time.
“Your Highness.”
He can hear Jun’s cool and firm voice from somewhere near; Ohno hates him most, because Jun is always like this in the morning, running on caffeine fuel and doing his best to drag Ohno to the same suffering he had to go through whenever they have a morning appointment.
Somewhere near Jun, he can also sense the blinding gleam of Aiba—always so bright in the morning, Ohno hates him too. No one should be allowed to be so bright so early in the morning; everyone should stay dark and grey at least until the sun is up.
“Fuck,” he says to Jun, pointing his wand and using his magick to sense that Jun has been hovering near him. “Off.” Ohno then points to somewhere near Aiba who’s right now kneeling on the feet of his chaise. “What the hell is so urgent that you need to barge in? What?”
“You’re here,” Jun replies dryly.
“Of course, I’m here,” Ohno growls this time. “And I’m sleeping too just in case you care about that particular fact. Now, fuck off. Go away.”
But Jun is undeterred as usual and to Ohno’s annoyance he is now taking a seat on the chair across the table. “You didn’t even put away your travel robe, Sir.”
“And?” Burying his face into his soft pillow, Ohno grunts. “What are you now, travel robe police?”
“I’ve no such thing. Sir—”
Whatever Jun wanted to say was cut off by Aiba’s chuckles. "Hello. I’m Aiba. What should I call you, cuteness?”
Great, now that Aiba found Cheeks, there’s no way he could return to peace this morning.
“You have a dog now?” Jun asks.
Ohno grunts as he tries to straighten up, feeling his back protesting at the movement. He squints at his two annoying guards, grumbling. He spots a breakfast cart behind Aiba; at least they have the decency to bring breakfast. He kicks off his blanket and goes straight to pour himself coffee—if anyone should be serving coffee here at this time, it would be not him. He finally turns to see Aiba still crouching next to Cheeks’s corner and that Jun is watching him.
“I’m calling him Cheeks.”
“Oh, cute. And why is that?” Aiba coos over the name and wakes Cheeks up. Meanwhile Jun glares at him disapprovingly—there are days when Ohno wonders who’s the crown prince here—although it’s always refreshing to have Jun scolding him without giving it much thought. No one dares to do so since he enters adulthood—and Ohno secretly likes it. But Jun doesn’t need to know that.
Ohno only glares back at Jun and says, to Aiba. “Because his cheeks are the cutest.”
Jun takes no care of the conversation, and goes straight to the point as usual. “Your Highness, we need to talk about last night.”
Ohno ignores him completely, sipping his coffee. He doesn’t have to talk about last night. At least not now. “And?”
“Again, you did not inform any of us of your trip.”
“I do not have to do such a thing.”
“Yes, you do,” Jun says firmly, but his tone has mellowed a bit. “I would have stopped you immediately, but you know Aiba would go with you no questions asked. Having one of us with you will keep you safer.”
“The nerve to check up on me at night like I’m a grumpy kid,” Ohno mumbles to his coffee, knowing that Jun hears him perfectly. “I’m here now. Isn’t that enough?”
“Sir, this has been happening often lately. This could not happen again.”
Ohno has enough with this talk; deep down he understands Jun’s concern but it doesn’t mean that he has to accept it. “I can’t say it won’t.”
Jun sighs tiredly this time. “I do understand you are furious with His Majesty’s decisions but neglecting safety for a temporary—”
“Yeah, it’s temporary,” he says with a flick of hand, just to end this annoying discussion.
But Jun pushes again. “That implies that you’re planning to do it again.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t ask questions if you don’t want to hear the answers.”
“But Your Highness, you can’t—”
“Oh-chan, Sir,” Aiba says from the end of the chaise. “Your cute dog is awake now.”
Cheeks barks at them and in the next moment everyone’s attention turns to him, shifting the magick twirls in the room completely. And Ohno notices instantly how Aiba sets up his protective shield, and that Jun is a split second ready to charge forward.
“No.” He steps forward, blocking Jun effectively and reaching out his magick to Aiba. “Put that shield down, Aiba-chan.”
“He’s magickal,” Jun says, still with his wand pointing at Cheeks—which only prompts Cheeks to growl at them. Masaki on the other side does not lower his shield either.
“I’m fully aware of that,” Ohno snaps at the both of them. “Aiba-chan, read him if you are not sure. And Jun, you keep pointing your wand at him and I’m going to hex you.”
Still Jun doesn’t lower his wand until he receives a sure nod from Aiba; Ohno swears he’s going to hex him someday.
“He’s been up in a dark magick trap, hasn’t he?” Aiba says, now lowering his shield and trying to reach back to Cheeks, who’s been growling at them constantly. “Our apology, Cheeks-chan. You’re in the room with one of the most important people in this world for us. We need to make sure.”
“Nino had also screened him, just in case you two needed a professional opinion.”
“I will definitely go check with him personally and review his screening notes.” Jun is still staring at Cheeks but he’s lowered his wand already. “Meanwhile I’ll trust Aiba-kun on this. But you still need to be careful, Your Highness.”
Ohno only rolls his eyes at the warning. He had enough of this conversation. “I’ll have breakfast now, and whatever else you need to brief me can wait until I’m done.”
On his way to the dining table on the corner of the room, Ohno waves his hand and summons Cheeks’ red food bowl from one of the boxes and sets up his breakfast next to his chair. “Breakfast time.”
Hearing Cheeks’ quick eager pads of short feet coming his way, Ohno lets out his first smile of the day. Perhaps today would not be a bad day after all.
*