Once he'd managed to overcome most of the pain in his body—he had a relatively high pain tolerance anyway from his training—he stood up and looked around. All he could see were trees looming over him, their bark and leaves darkened by the gloominess of the sky. Was it going to rain? It'd better not rain. I'm in no mood to be soaking wet and lost in the middle of the damn woods.

He had no idea where that mysterious person had gone and he had no idea which direction he'd come from. Everything looked the same—there were just more trees and grass in each direction. No landmarks, no resources, no nothing. He cursed under his breath and began walking in some general direction. Looking for the horse's hoof prints was a lost cause since the grass seemed to absorb any trace they'd left behind. What was with this place?

"I hate my life..." he muttered as he walked through the forest, kicking rocks as he went, "My mother is gone, my kingdom is screwed... What the hell am I supposed to do...?" What was he supposed to do? He had nothing.

He couldn't go back home, not only because he couldn't find his way but because Fukurodani had most likely taken over and done something terrible to his father. That place was a mess. But he also had no idea where he was going. If he left the kingdom at all, it was by train and he never had time to look out the windows because his father would always give him work and research to do as they traveled.

He was more worried about his mother than about most things, however. If something terrible happened to her, he would never forgive himself. She meant so much to him.

After walking around for what seemed like hours and making no visible progress, the young prince was ready to give up and wait. Frustrated and agitated by his situation and his uncontrollable feelings of helplessness, he kicked another rock and watched it skim the dew-tipped strands of grass until it stumbled to a halt a few feet away.

"I know you're angry, little lost traveler, but there's no need to take it out on this poor, defenseless rock."

Tooru flinched at the sound of a smooth and calm voice nearby, and whipped his head around in the general direction from which it had emanated. Surely enough, he saw a figure standing in the shadow of a tree not too far away. Even though Tooru knew well enough that he should be feeling fear due to his inability to defend himself at the moment and his lack of familiarity with his surroundings, but he was much too prideful to show any signs of submission.

When the figure emerged from the shadows and into the ring of dull light shining through a large gap in between the trees, Tooru could see that the man was a knight or guardian of some sort. He wore black, shimmering armor over a stunning, red shirt, as well as black pants tucked neatly into his dark boots. He wasn't wearing a mask or helmet of sorts, allowing Tooru to watch as the corners of his mouth curled up into a smile.

As the mysterious man neared the prince, he circled around him, examining and analyzing the situation before him. "So, what brings you here today?" he wondered as he stood in front of Tooru and watched him closely with a shocking pair of deep, golden eyes.

"Why does that concern you?" Tooru responded snappily as he eyed the sword handle sticking out of a sheath attached to the man's belt. It was ornately decorated with a shiny black material that had blood red highlights running through it like veins.

The man chuckled and ran a hand through his messy, black hair that had two tufts standing up that resembled cat ears to an extent. "There's no need to be like that with me; I'm only trying to help you," he stated calmly.

"Who are you?" Tooru grunted. There was an annoying bug flying around his face and the fact that his hands were bound behind his back was the only thing between him and murdering the damn thing.

The man noticed this inconvenience and his hand shot forward, catching the insect between two of the metal claws at the tips of his gloved hands and crushing the life out of it. Tooru's eyes widened as he gazed at the man's hand, which was mere millimeters away from his face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said with a smirk, "Anyway, to answer your question, I'm the guardian of this forest. I know all the ins and outs of this place and part of my job is to help lost travelers like yourself reach your destination. So, please tell me... What brings you here today?"

The man's golden eyes stared deeply into Tooru's brown ones, not breaking eye contact for even a second as he flicked the dead bug off of his hand before placing it on his hip and shifting his weight to his left leg. There was something about the strength of his gaze that made Tooru feel challenged and provoked him to answer truthfully in order to assert his dominance.

"I'll have you know I'm a prince. I was captured and taken away from my home, and all I want is for this damn rope to be taken off of me so I can continue on my way without getting smacked in the face by all these fucking branches," he stated, his voice laced with anger and frustration, "So, if you could do me a huge favor and untie my hands, I'll be on my way and you won't have to deal with me."

The man's smirk grew as he examined the claws on the tips of his fingers before looking at the rope binding Tooru's hands together. "You must be a mastermind if you expect to get out of here with no help whatsoever," he taunted before moving behind Tooru and picking up his hands.

This remark sent Tooru off on a rampage, bragging about himself and his accomplishments, but the man was too focused on something else to pay any attention to the prince's ramblings. A watch wrapped around Tooru's wrist caught the young man's attention when he noticed the luxurious quality of leather with which the watchband was made and saw the sparkle of the glass encasing the beautifully and intricately decorated golden face.

"Hey, what kingdom are you from again?" the man asked as he began pretending to work on cutting Tooru free of his restraint while he actually focused on getting his watch off.

"Aobajohsai! I only told you about a million times already," Tooru answered matter-of-factly.

The man's blood ran cold upon hearing that answer and his jaw clenched tightly. He returned to stealing Tooru's watch as he let him resume bragging about him until he was able to get it off his wrist and into his own pocket. He then let go of Tooru's hands and kicked the back of his knee, sending the prince falling to the ground.

"Oww! What the hell?!" Tooru growled as he looked up at the man.

"I hate to make enemies with people, but I don't want any scum from that kingdom wandering through my forest. Especially not after what your pure and honorable king did to our future queen," the man spat, his kind and friendly voice suddenly taking on a tone of disgust and fury.

Before Tooru could react, the man had his sword drawn and was looking down at him with a murderous glare. Now Tooru knew he was going to die. His mother's most loyal followers loved her like their own mother, and after his father had dragged her into a marriage and into his kingdom, the people of Nekoma had turned against the king of Aobajohsai. And since Tooru just so happened to share half his genes with the king of Aobajohsai, it appeared that the people of Nekoma hated him too.

"You're really going to kill me for something that's not even my fault?" Tooru asked incredulously to hide the hurricane of fear brewing in his mind.

"Stop me," was the man's simple response, "your hands are bound behind your back but you must have some amazing plan, Oikawa-san."

He stuck his sword in the ground and bent down so that he was eye level with Tooru and so that the sinister smile on his face felt that much more personal. As Tooru gazed back at the man with brown eyes full of torment and anger, he noticed another shadow out of the corner of his eye.

"Kuroo-san, where the hell have you been?" a gentle yet irritated voice echoed from a few feet away.

The man in front of Tooru, whom he could now identify as Kuroo, whirled around and sprung up, the trademark smirk of his reappearing on his features. "Kenma! You got here just in time! Wanna see me kill someone else?" he announced with excitement.

"Who've you got now?" the smaller man asked, moving his longer, blonde-dyed hair away from his catlike eyes. His clothing matched Kuroo's besides the fact he wasn't wearing much armor and he carried an assortment of daggers on his belt.

"The prince of Aobajohsai! What a find!" Kuroo stated proudly, "Oh, and I got his watch. Consider it a consolation gift for me accidentally busting that stupid thing you always play games on during your free time." He fished Tooru's watch out of his pocket and tossed it to Kenma, who caught it and examined it.

"I guess I'll take it..."

"Hey, that's mine!" Tooru growled and struggled against his restraint again.

Kenma and Kuroo both turned to face him again, their eyes glowing almost ominously in the dim sunlight. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot about you. Let's get on with it then," Kuroo grumbled as he pulled his sword out of the ground and approached Tooru.

"Get away from me!" Tooru shouted, a sudden wave of panic hitting him at the realization that his life would be over soon and he couldn't do anything about it.

He felt the metal of the sword press against his neck, sending chills down his spine. When he felt the sensation disappear and saw Kuroo draw his arms back and prepare to deliver the killing slice that would sever his head from his neck, he clenched his eyes shut and hoped for a quick death.