Chapter Text
England, 1824
From his position under the couch, young Akihito could see everyone in the room. Well, everyone from below the ankle, that is.
There was a pair of large leather boots planted firmly on the floor in front of him. His mother’s skirts swished by for the third time, followed by the Duchess Asami’s and several scurrying maids. They were looking for him. One of the maids had looked under the couch already, but Akihito had been hiding underneath the chaise, then. By the time she looked under the chaise, the small boy had squirmed from there to underneath the couch.
He held his breath and scrunched down as small as he could. He was hiding, but it was not a game. He really, truly did not want to be found. If they did, they would just torment him again until he cried. He had already cried once this morning and he didn’t want to do it again. It was embarrassing. His mother said he was far too big of a boy to cry at six years of age, but Akihito couldn’t help it. When he got tired and frustrated, he cried. And there was nothing more frustrating than being poked and prodded, dressed and redressed for his new winter wardrobe in the dead heat of summer.
The Duchess sighed in frustration, “Oh where is that boy! I wish Ryuhei were here. His keen Alpha nose could sniff him out for us. He has an excellent sense of smell, you know. He is the perfect Alpha in absolutely every way. Unfortunately, he is out with his father. So I suppose, Ryuichi, you’ll have to do. Get up off your lazy duff and help us. ”
There was some movement from the couch above Akihito’s head, as the occupant shifted his weight. “I apologize Mother, my sense of smell just isn’t as good as Ryuhei’s. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be much help. I tried but I can't smell nothing.”
“Anything, you can’t smell anything,” the Duchess corrected irritably. “Oh for goodness sake, at least sit up straight. Don’t slouch. Ryuhei has perfect posture, you know…”
Their voices trailed off into the next room and then the next. Akihito didn’t dare breathe, didn’t dare move. They might be back. Any second, they might….
The sofa above him shifted. His dark hiding place was suddenly filled with light as someone lifted one end up off the ground. The tiny blond boy looked up with wide, blue eyes to see his very bestest friend smiling down at him.
The teen whispered urgently, “Come on out of there Aki, let's get out of here before they come back!”
Akihito scooted out and stood up next to the tall alpha. At only sixteen years of age, Ryuichi was already very, very tall. He was even taller than Akihito’s father, and so that was quite tall indeed, in Akihito’s eyes. The little boy pushed his golden curls out of his eyes, straightened his shirt, placed his tiny hand in Ryuichi’s outstretched palm and looked up quite seriously, “Thank you for not telling... How did you know where I was hiding?”
Ryuichi tapped his nose, “Can’t fool this Alpha’s nose. I could smell you a mile away in a rainstorm.”
“Do I smell bad?” Akihito gasped.
“Oh no, quite the contrary. Nothing better than the smell of a baby Omega- all flowers and sugar and sweetness. Best scent in the world, and most especially, because it's you.”
Akihito smiled and Ryuichi smiled back. “You want to run away with me?”
The younger boy nodded enthusiastically. Running away with Ryuichi was the best. He would take him away for the day. They would go horseback riding, and fishing, and hunting with a real bow and arrows. Ryuichi let him do all the things his mother said Omegas weren’t supposed to do. She would have had a fit if she found out, but Ryuichi never told her and neither did Akihito. It was their little secret.
“Ok then, take my hand. We need to be as quiet as a mouse,” Ryuichi whispered, as he led him carefully out the back of the giant mansion. They zigzagged carefully, ducking into corners and hiding behind furniture. Akihito couldn’t help but grin. He had been doing this since lunch, hiding from his mother, but it was much more fun with Ryuichi leading. When they were outside, the Alpha scooped him and took off at a sprint across the lawn. Akihito was bouncing up and down in his arms with excitement and finally, giggling like the little boy he was.
Hidden behind a tree near the stables was a pretty white mare with her saddlebags loaded down. She whinnied softly, as Akihito was settled onto her back and then Ryuichi swung up behind him. His strong arms and legs enveloped the tiny Omega as the teen took the reins, clicked his tongue and spurred her into motion.
They took the long way around, skirting the tree line behind the manor so as not to be seen from the windows. Once they were well away from the house, Ryuichi finally looked down at him and spoke, “Rough morning, huh Aki?”
Akihito flopped back against him and looked down at his round belly with a pout, “Yea. Stupid clothes. Stupid moms.”
“I know, I can’t understand why they insist on dressing you up like a little doll that's supposed to sit still in the corner. What’s with all the ruffles and satin and lace? Don’t they know you’re a six year old boy? You should be running around in shorts and shirts that you don’t have to worry about getting muddy.”
“Not a boy, I’m an Omega. And Omegas have to have comportment. ‘Specially cause I’m betrothed. Ryuichi? What does betrothed mean?”
Ryuichi took the reins in one hand so that he could hug Akihito closer to him with the other. He sighed deeply, “It means that your parents and my parents made a decision when you were born, that they really didn’t have the right to make. They decided that, when you are old enough, you should marry my brother.”
Akihito twisted around and looked up at Ryuichi. He scrunched up his nose like he’d smelled something terrible, “I’m supposed to marry Ryuhei?”
Ryuichi’s twin brother, Ryuhei, might have looked just like Akihito’s best friend, but that didn’t mean he acted anything like him. He was a ‘hoity-toity stick-in-the-mud’ as Ryuichi liked to say. He didn’t like to get his clothes creased, he didn’t like to get dirty, and he certainly didn’t ever get on the floor and play horsey with certain rambunctious little boys.
“Yuck!” cried Akihito incredulously, “I don’t wanna marry Ryuhei. I don’t want to marry anybody. ‘Cept maybe you Ryuichi. Will you marry me instead?”
He smiled brightly up at the Alpha and the Alpha smiled down at him, “I would love to marry you, my little Darling, and someday I will, that’s a promise. Why do you think I kidnapped you away on this fine summer day? No one in the world I’d rather be with.”
“Me too!” Akihito said, clapping his pudgy hands together with glee.
“I’ve got it all planned out. We are on our way up to the lake. We’ll go swimming and fishing and have dinner. I’ll get you back home just in time to tuck you into your little bed, and then get a vicious tongue-lashing from my mother for taking you off ‘gallivanting’. I am a very bad influence on you, or so I’ve been told,” he said with a conspiratorial wink.
Akihito winked back and giggled.
They continued through the forest for a few minutes longer. Ryuichi wasn't following any trail that Akihito could discern, but he trusted him, so much so that the young boy dozed in his lap and left his wellbeing utterly in the older boy’s arms. They were just kind of meandering through the forest, taking the route that offered the least obstacles for the mare. The Alpha seemed to know where he was going and eventually they broke out of the trees.
The young blond sat up rubbing his eyes. He had been to the lake before, but every time it felt new. They were standing on the small, sandy shore that ran all around the lake, encircling it by rock and trees. The water lapped gently on the shoreline and it was so calm, the reflection looked to Akihito as if there was a second sky underneath the first. It was the most beautiful place on earth, he thought.
“So pretty,” the small boy said, unable to articulate what he felt.
“It is,” said Ryuichi softly. He got down off the mare and then helped Akihito to slide off with a tenderness that the gruff, sullen teen never showed to anyone but Akihito. The afternoon sun was hot and both boys were sweating a bit from the ride.
“Can we go for a swim?”
“If you like, but we might scare off all the fish. How about if we catch our dinner first and then go swimming?”
Akihito was hot, but he was also hungry. “Okay.”
Ryuichi looped the mare’s reins over a tree limb after getting her to drink from the lake and she contented herself in the soft grass. He used the saddle to lean against, after setting both their lines with bait and casting them as far out into the lake as he could. Akihito leaned up against his side. They were quiet for a long while, listening to the birds, and the rustling of the trees, and the mare snuffling in the grass behind them. He wished they could do this every day. Maybe he could have, if he were an Alpha like Ryuichi. Akihito wished that he was, on everything from four leaf clovers to shooting stars, but so far, nothing had worked.
Finally Akihito spoke, “Why did I have to be born an Omega?
“I don’t know. Why was I born second? And why should two minutes matter so much to my parents?”
“S’not fair.”
“No, it's not. But it's the way things are. As you get older, you will realize, like I have, that even though you can’t change some things, you can learn to work around them. Regardless of your birth, you’ll make your own destiny Akihito, and I will too. One day, you might even be glad to be an Omega.”
“I doubt it,” grumped Akihito.
Just then there was a tug on his line, he sat up and everything else was forgotten.
“I got a fish, I got a fish!” he screamed as he jerked spastically on his fishing pole, nearly losing it in the water.
“Careful,” Ryuichi said, placing his large hands over Akihito’s to steady them. “Reel her in slow and steady, don’t rush her or she’ll just fight harder. Easy does it...”
On bated breath, they took one step backwards and then another and another. The line was stretched tense and the pole bent forward. For a moment, Akihito thought it was going to snap, but then it bounced back and finally, the fish splashed up to rest on the bank. Its sides were heaving and its mouth was gasping. It was an enormous silvery blue trout. The scales glittered pink and orange in the afternoon light.
“My goodness Aki! What a fine fish! And you did such a good job reeling her in!”
The Omega held his chest high and his sweet little face beamed with pride. There wasn’t much he did well enough to garner praise. He wasn’t good at sitting still or doing embroidery or sewing or any of the activities his mother deemed appropriate for an Omega, but...when he was with Ryuichi, none of that seemed to matter at all. He was reminded of all the things he did well. He could climb a tree quick as a cat, he could stand up and balance on a horse’s back, and he could catch a fine fish.
Ryuichi made quick work of the fish and put it out of its suffering. They caught two more, and then Akihito was finally allowed to wade in the water while Ryuichi cooked their dinner over a fire. The young boy wore only his linen undergarments as he splashed in the water. The teen asked him to stay in the shallows and to stick to where the water was clear. Akihito obeyed carefully. It was too cold to go all the way in anyway. The water was crisp and cool, the lake fed by a stream that carried melted snow down from the mountains. It only came halfway up his goose-pimpled thighs, but suddenly Akihito stepped in a hole and fell down. He opened his mouth to scream, but lakewater rushed in and silenced him.
He was hauled up sputtering and gasping by a concerned looking Ryuichi, who had gotten his clothes wet in his rush to save Akihito.
Used to being chastised for every little thing, Akihito immediately began apologizing, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to go in over my head!”
The Alpha’s handsome face broke into a smile as he tugged the boy up into his arms, “I know you didn’t! Who would step in a hole on purpose? I’m just glad you are alright.”
“You aren’t mad?”
“No sweetheart, I could never be mad at you.”
Akihito’s tremulous smile was radiant as he looked up through sodden locks. A rain drop splattered on his already wet face and Ryuichi frowned as he looked up. Over the top of the trees loomed a dark grey storm cloud. It had come up without warning. The wind suddenly picked up, and with it came a spray of rain drops.
“Here, Akihito, help me gather up our things. There’s an old abandoned cottage up the hill, we can wait out the storm there.”
They stuffed the saddlebags full and wrapped the fish in leaves for they were too hot to carry by hand. Akihito remained in his wet underpants and that was good, or his clothes would have been soaked through by the time they reached the cabin because, just then, the clouds opened up on their heads.
The storm was shockingly fierce for having given them almost no sign of its approach. The thunder cracked and the ground shook like a tree had fallen. Ryuichi struggled with the panicking mare and yelled at Akihito to get back as she reared and stamped her feet. Moments later she broke away and ran into the forest. Ryuichi bolted as if to go after her, but then turned and scooped Akihito up in his arms instead. He sprinted for the cabin. The wind lashed at them, but they did not have far to go.
The cabin door hung from its rusted hinges and was easy to open, but hard to close. Every time the wind gusted, it went flying open and rain poured in. Ryuichi finally snapped off a piece of a broken table leg and wedged it closed.
Akihito stood pale-faced, nearly naked, dripping wet, clutching the one remaining fish to his chest. He had dropped all the others and he was shivering violently. So was Ryuichi.
Ryuichi immediately began to strip off his sodden clothing, “I’m so sorry Aki, just hold tight. I’ll take care of you.”
Now naked, he bent and began to break the table down further. The wood was old, dry and brittle so it was not long before he had a substantial pile of wood to stack in the long abandoned hearth. He used the same flint he had used to start the fire he used to roast the fish. Without a smattering of dry leaves to catch the sparks, it was much harder to get the fire to light, but he was able to find some dry pine needles that had been blown inside and those did the trick.
The wood was oak and it took a long time for the embers to spread. It would be awhile before it generated any noticeable heat, but the upside was that once it did get going, it would burn for a long time. Ryuichi pulled the shivering Omega into his lap and took his wet underwear off. He spread it next to his own clothing on the floor in hopes that it might dry out enough for them to use.
The summer was warm, but the storm had temporarily stolen all the heat from the air. Akihito shivered so hard his teeth began to clack together. Ryuichi hugged him tight to his broad chest and rubbed his arms, stomach and legs to generate heat. It was only a few more moments of suffering before Akihito finally began to warm up. The storm outside was raging still and the cabin was dark and yucky and probably full of scary bugs, but in Ryuichi’s strong arms, the Omega felt safe and warm.
Water dripped in the corners from the leaky roof, but the fire burned hot and crackling so Akihito turned his attention to another pressing matter, “I’m hungry. Can we eat my fine fish now?”
Ryuichi nearly shook the walls with his booming laugh, “Sure, we can eat your fine fish now. Here, let me help you.”
He peeled the skin and scales off and then picked out the meat from the bones. Akihito wanted to do it himself but Ryuichi said the bones were sharp and could hurt his fingers. The fish was good, it was flaky and still warm from the fire. They were almost done with it by the time that Akihito realized that Ryuichi hadn’t eaten any.
“Don’t you want some? It’s very good.”
“No, you eat up darling. I know how that bottomless tummy of yours is. I can afford to skip a meal.”
“You have to try my fish. I caught it so I say so. Just one bite?” Akihito said, offering a piece of plump white meat up.
“Okay, just one.”
He took it off Akihito’s palm with his mouth and Akihito giggled at the brush of his lips.
“Now my turn,” Ryuichi said, pulling a long strip of meat up and popping it into Akihito’s laughing mouth.
When the fish was reduced to nothing but skin and bones, Ryuichi wrapped it up and threw it outside. The storm was still raging. He came back in and then set about creating a comfortable place for them to sleep. When he had finally arranged things to his satisfaction, he laid down and opened his arms to Akihito. The young boy squirmed happily into them. Their bare skin pressed against the other and the heat from the fire warmed them right up.
“We are probably going to be stuck here overnight. I wish I had been better prepared for camping. Well, I was, until the horse ran off.”
“It's okay,” said the eternally optimistic Akihito with his cheek propped on Ryuichi’s bicep, “it's like an adventure.”
The teen smiled wryly, “I’m glad you see it that way. I don’t think our parents are going to. If I had gotten you back after a few hours, safe and sound, I’d probably have gotten off with a light scolding, but this…a teenage Alpha taking a young Omega out in the woods in the middle of a storm without telling anyone where we are, ending up naked together in a cabin. No matter how innocent… I’m going to be in big trouble for this. They are probably going to ship me off to that boarding school they are always threatening me with for sure this time.”
He sighed heavily and Akihito turned round in his arms. He looked up with wide, frightened eyes. The child was not frightened by the storm, or the loss of the horse, or the cold, or the dark scary cottage, but the thought of losing Ryuichi, that was terrifying.
“No, Ryuichi, they can’t take you away from me!”
“I’m afraid little monkey, that it will be the other way around. But I promise you, no matter what happens, or how many years go by, I will never stop trying to make you mine. I will do whatever it takes. You just remember this: I love you, for always,” his eyes were unbearably tender as he cupped the young Omega’s chin and softly kissed his forehead.
“I’ll love you the most, for always too,” Akihito said tearfully with his arms wrapped tight around Ryuichi’s neck.