"Oh, hey, Shouto! What's up, dude? Fancy seeing you here!" Denki chuckled, using his right hand to salute at the half and half male. "If you don't mind, I'd like some help with this feral child, and you seem to know how to calm him down!"

"ASSHOLE, I'M NOT A FERAL CHILD!" The ash blonde felt his eye twitch, just about ready to grab Denki's arm and snap it in half, which he easily could do if he really wanted to, since his raw strength alone was outstandingly unchallenged.

Shouto, who had still been standing at the door, was trying to process the whole situation. First of all, he wasn't gone for that long, so how could so much happen? And why wasn't Hitoshi helping, the possibly most sane out of all of them in the room? Not to mention the fact that Fuyumi was completely cornered and had given up with trying to reason with them.

To say that he was stressed was quite the understatement, because not only did he have to deal with Katsuki, now he had to deal with his brother, Denki, Hitoshi, the cooks who prepared the food, the servants, and finally, his father. It was just horrible, and the worst case scenario was that they would not have enough time to clean up after themselves.

Well, let's just say that the situation was about to get much worse than it already was. Why? Because King Endeavor had just entered from the room's back entrance, watching as the chaos unraveled. Oh how amazing it would have been if he would just turn around and walk away, leaving them to their own accords. However, that was too much to ask for, because the first thing he did was look over at Katsuki like he was about to kick his ass.

Katsuki wasn't the person who would let something like that happen, especially letting a crappy old man like that do it to him. Besides, he didn't give a shit, and decided not to look his way, even though he knew for sure that his piercing gaze was on him.

"Katsuki, hey uh—" Shouto noticed his father's glare, and his first instinct was to warn the ash blonde of whatever the hell he was planning out.

"OI, INSOMNIAC, DO YOU MIND???" Although Hitoshi was currently taking a breather, it looked as though Katsuki had some sort of idea in mind.

The indigo haired male seemed to understand exactly what he was talking about, and smirked when he stood up. The first thing he did was pick up one of the cloth napkins from the table. Then, he handed it to King Endeavor and just stared into his eyes so much that it made it seem like he was staring right into his soul.

The king looked completely confused. Now that was just the stupidest distraction ever, or so he thought. In reality, it was genius, but how was he to know? It's not like he spent enough time around him to anticipate his strategy.

Endeavor cocked an eyebrow, and was about ready to give out a demand. However, the moment the thought crossed his mind, Hitoshi hit him with a simple question. "Do you want to know what I'm doing?"

"What kind of question is—" Just then, it seemed like the king had just frozen in place, his eyes losing any sort of color. He had just faded out of consciousness, and was unable to do anything on his own will.

Brainwashed. King Endeavor had been brainwashed by Hitoshi, which was found to be a quite unusual magic that he inherited at the age of four, as did most others. Though some people saw this as a problem, others saw it as a blessing, and proved to be quite helpful in the heat of battle, making him an excellent knight on the front, which was part of the reason why he was chosen specifically by name to accompany Fuyumi and Natsuo.

Hitoshi's grin widened, "Got you. Now turn around and walk away."

Of course, the king did what he was told, and turned around without a single complaint. The room fell silent, except for Denki who yelled out, "Yeah, that's my Shinsou!" He managed to break free from Katsuki's grip (only because the ash blonde was distracted), and ran over to the other male, embracing him into a hug thereafter.

"Let go."

"I— okay.." The blonde removed himself from him with a pout. Although he seemed to be quite touchy with Katsuki, it looked like he had more respect for Hitoshi, not wanting to break whatever trust they had between them.

Shouto sighed, looking at the mess of a room. Sure, it was good that they all had finally settled down, but now this mess was something that they needed to take care of. He turned to the ash blonde, who still seemed to be snarling at Denki for pissing him off, and called out to him, "Katsuki, may I talk to you?"

Of course, Katsuki immediately jerked his head in the other prince's direction, his nose scrunched up in disgust. "The fuck do you want, bastard?"

"Woahhh, that's not something you should call your boyfriend, now is it?" Denki had a smug grin spread across his face as he shrugged his shoulders upwards. He must have not cared how much Katsuki pushed him around, rather, he found amusement in each of his reactions just to piss him off.

"Dunce Face, if you don't shut your stupid ass mouth, I'm gonna blow you to bits." He stomped past the blonde with a 'tch', and approached Shouto, looking even more pissed than before. Although not mad at the dual colored male, he felt like he was going to get lectured somehow, even if it was out of character for Shouto to do so.

Once he was sure that Katsuki's full attention was on him, which didn't take very long because the ash blonde was quick to listen to his requests, the prince cleared his throat, "If you don't mind, I'd like it if you talked to me in private."

Katsuki's eyebrow perked up in interest. Now this was a first. He didn't even take it as a bad thing, he just proudly raised his head with a smug look in Denki's direction. "Whatever, just make it quick."

Denki cupped his hands around his mouth, "If I hear y'all making some weird sounds, I'm calling the authorities!" The prince understood what he was trying to say, but only grumbled and stomped off with Shouto.

Hitoshi elbowed the blonde, "Kaminari, how about you help me clean up before I tell Prince Natsuo that you're the one who ate his cookies last night."

"Wait what? He's the one who did that?" Natsuo's head perked up, but he hit his head from under the table where he had been hiding.

"Dude! That was totally not cool!"

Their voices faded out as Shouto left the room with Katsuki and closed the door behind the both of them. Before he spoke, he took the other male's hand into his, and began to drag him down the hall. Katsuki didn't seem to have much of a reaction to it, but upon close inspection his face was a bit rosy. He directed his gaze upward as they walked, a couple of servants giving them strange looks when they happened to cross paths.

Then, Shouto stopped in an empty hallway, one where he knew for sure anyone would rarely go. It was the hallway right next to the shrine that always reeked heavily of cherry blossoms. Not many people thought it was the best idea to light so many candles, as well as fill the room with so many flowers, especially that flower as an offering for the dead, usually one would use a red spider lily to represent a final goodbye.

Yet, they did so anyway, all in remembrance of the eldest son Touya. Sakura leaves did represent his life after all, as Rei and Enji had put it. The flower itself lives quite short, Touya's own life cut short at such a young age, and they hoped that after death he would eventually be renewed, and somehow return to them in some other form.

Shouto knew that the only person who came here the most was Endeavor, yet he hadn't a clue as to why that was. The only thing he had noticed from when he occasionally walked these halls was that his father would stop at the entrance of that room for a good twenty minutes, seemingly staring into nothingness for the entirety of that time, until his small trances were broken to the point he couldn't even bring himself to enter the room. The prince didn't care enough to ask what had been his problem, and definitely wasn't going to that fact change that all suddenly.

Instead, he chose to ignore him, just as he did on all of the other actions Endeavor took. The incident with Izuku was still that exception he could not get over, where not only had he failed the greenette, but snapped at his father all in the same day. For all that was good, he wanted to let out his unbridled anger and despair, but he couldn't let it happen, not again. Especially not in front of Katsuki right now, who he didn't want to bother anymore than he did last night.

He sighed. From years of being around him, he knew for sure that Katsuki wouldn't have a complaint with helping him, even if it did take him a while to stop calling him 'icy hot' and finally move on to a first name basis. That was how he knew he had his respect, and would only call him by his belittling nickname when he was pissed off at something and too focused to correct himself. Despite this, he still was a bit hesitant with spilling his emotions.

Katsuki began to drag his foot against the velvet carpeting. It looked like he was contemplating what Shouto was going to tell him. A private talk with Shouto? Somewhere others hardly went? It seemed a bit conspicuous in his head, since, to him, everything clearly fit together. It was all too perfect, and he was about ready to hear what he expected.

"To start things off, I have a question: Just what exactly is in the Chusi Woods?" He recalled the title of the map that Izuku had stored away in his pouch with ease, and hoped that was exactly where he was planning on going.

Katsuki felt a bit stupid for assuming what he was going to say, but made nothing of it. Of course it was just a normal conversation, not like Shouto would pull him out of the way for anything else than that. He should've known. "Eh? Who's asking?"

"I am." Shouto nodded his head as an indication of him telling the truth. "I encountered Midoriya in the library. Although I failed to see any black haired guys that looked like a 'raisin', I did discover that Midoriya stole a map to the Chusi Woods, and I want to know what would be there that a person would seek."

"So it's about that runt again. I'm so fucking fed up with this already. If it's bothering you so much, why don't you try and forget it? It's only hurting you."

He then shook his head slowly. It was hurting him, which was exactly why he needed to go fix his mistake. The mistake he had made. The mistake that he could no longer turn back on. The mistake of denying Izuku. His mistake. Not his father's. His mistake. "No. He's one of my citizens, and it is my duty as the next in line for the throne to help my citizens, is it not?"

"Well duh, but doesn't mean you can fucking chase after him! You have shit to take care of here, where you're fucking supposed to be!"

"I haven't made that decision yet. Now, tell me. What is in the Chusi woods?" He couldn't wait here all day, he needed to know now. If he didn't, then for all he knew Izuku could have already attempted to get whatever he needed, and be done with his business before Shouto could even think about getting over there. He knew his intentions, but why the woods of all places?

Katsuki looked pissed because no matter how hard he tried to fight it, he wasn't going to change Shouto's mind on helping the greenette. "Fine. You wanna know? I'll tell you. That shit steam of a forest has this weird ass flower or so I've heard."

"Please explain."

He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest. "Haven't you ever heard of that dumbass flower that makes people's wishes come true like some fucking fairy tale? Some people actually believe that stupid ass legend and go searching for it. But we all know that's a load of bullshit."

"It mustn't be bullshit if he's actually searching for it. I don't think Midoriya would be someone to search for something that doesn't exist, and definitely wouldn't waste time on that rather than finding his mother."

"Why the fuck do you talk about him like you know him, huh!? You only met him once!? Twice!? For fuck's sake, you don't even know if he wants your help!"

Shouto looked off to the side. That was true, Izuku most likely didn't want his help, and probably was already hoping to never see him ever again. Then why did his eyes look in so much pain whenever the greenette pushed him away? "I... just have a really bad feeling about it all. Something doesn't feel right, and I'm sure that it has to do with his accomplice."

"Can't you stop? What is this all about anyway!? What do you have to prove!?"

"That I'm not like my father, okay!?" The prince's voice broke, his fists clenched tightly together. He didn't like yelling at Katsuki, the only person who seemed to care about him through all of this, but at this moment he just wanted to find a way to get through to him since the other male was being quite stubborn.

"I— huh?" Katsuki was about to grab Shouto by the shoulders, but was taken aback by what he was saying. That wasn't something he had never been able to say directly, especially out loud. Just what exactly was going on these last few days?

The dual colored male bit his lip, "I want to prove that I'm nothing like my father. Right now, all I am is burdening the kingdom because I am unable to do anything. It's like I'm being held back, and I don't want to. Why is that? What did I do wrong? Must I always follow in my father's footsteps? Must I always be a curse to humanity, to my citizens, to my family? What am I doing wrong, Katsuki? I want to change that, I don't want to be like my father, I want nothing to do with him, don't you see? I haven't been able to do much for my kingdom, so why can't I at least fix this one mistake that I made?"

Katsuki wanted to tear his hair out. Why didn't he see it before? Of course Shouto was feeling like this, and his constant yelling wasn't helping the situation. "Goddammit, Shouto, what the fuck. You're nothing like your old man, you know full well."

"What I've done says otherwise."

"That doesn't mean you can force yourself onto him! What happened happened, let it go already, you're just making yourself feel worse, and I can't even do anything to help you!"

"You already helped me. Now maybe... I can help myself."

He was just about at his limit, unable to hold his arms back anymore. His large hands latched onto Shouto's shoulder's tightly as there was clear frustration in his voice, "What the hell's that supposed to mean!?"

"I'm leaving the castle."

"I knew it, I fuc—" He then paused. What in the world did he just say? "Huh!? The fuck did ya say? I don't think I heard you right, dumbass."

Shouto looked directly into Katsuki's crimson eyes. Clearly, he was being dead serious with a gaze like that. "I said that I'm leaving the castle."

Even if he knew that he was messing around, he refused it, he didn't want Shouto to leave him, not yet, not when he was ready to tell him the truth. "You can't just fucking leave! What the fuck do you think you can accomplish out of leaving? Are you just trying to run away from your problems!? That isn't gonna get you anywhere and you know it!"

"I'm not running away. I'm finding a way to solve it, Katsuki." He noticed that the ash blonde's grip began to loosen, which to his relief allowed him to remove himself from his hands. "I thought you of all people would be understanding, but I guess you don't care either."

"But you don't understand... I care about you, you know that, don't you?"

"You misunderstand. I know how much you care, I'm not one to ignore your gestures. But, you don't care about what I need to do, you only care about what you need me to do."

Katsuki let out a frustrated groan, that wasn't it at all. "Dammit! You don't listen! That's not what I care about. Fuck, I care about your well being, I care about your safety!" His hands trailed to his head, to the point where he had to walk over to the wall and hit his head against it three times.

Shouto stayed silent for a good while, watching the way the ash blonde was pulling away at his own hair. He didn't want to say anything wrong, because after all, Katsuki was very dear to him and vise versa.

He was waiting for him to calm down a bit, but wasn't expecting him to break the silence first. Katsuki looked like he was forcing himself to hold back tears, all because he didn't want to seem weak in front of the dual colored male. "I can't stop you, can I?"

"No." The prince was quick to reply, shaking his head as he did so.

"Then.... Can I at least show you something I've been meaning to tell you? I meant to tell you earlier, but Pikachu fucking interrupted us." Even as he said this, he hadn't moved from his position where his face was leaning on the wall. He was still calming himself down so he didn't accidentally do something that he would regret.

"Of course."

The ash blonde then took a rolled up piece of parchment paper out of his pocket, and held it over his shoulder. "I wanted to uh use this for us, but I assume you need it more than I do right now. You're lucky I had this."

Shouto took it out of his hands and unrolled it. It was a map to the Chusi Woods, just exactly where he needed to go. "Katsuki, where di—"

"Don't ask. I was hoping I could put it to good use. Just... I better see you at my kingdom in two weeks for another dumb meeting, or I'm fucking coming after you. You got that?"

"Oh... okay I promise. I don't think it will take that long, I'm sure I'll catch up to Midoriya in no time." He managed to soften his gaze, although he knew that just this once Katsuki wasn't looking at him. "And uh... thank you."

Katsuki finally jerked his head back. "Eh!? Why now of all times do you choose to thank me!? It was nothing, so fuck off!" He was clearly flushed with embarrassment, but didn't care to admit it.

"OI, KATSUKI BAKUGOU, WHERE ARE YOU, WE GOTTA GET GOING!" Of course, all of his moments with Shouto had to end with Queen Mitsuki either kicking his ass or yelling after him.

"UGH, I'M COMING OLD HAG, CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" He huffed, folding his arms over his chest, and starting to walk down the hall. Before he completely left, he got one last good look at Shouto, trailing his gaze up and down his body.

The dual colored male raised an eyebrow at the strange way Katsuki was looking at him. "What is it?"

"I just got one more thing to say. No wait, fuck it, two actually." He shut his eyes before he could look anywhere else. "First off all, I told a lie the other day in the conference hall. No, I'm not gonna tell you what it was, don't even think about it. Second, fuck you."

"I— uh... thank you...?"

With that, Katsuki shoved his hands into his pockets and walked off. That was some way of saying goodbye, and something else that he couldn't express, but that wasn't a discussion he wasn't ready to bring up anymore, for he still had more things to understand about Shouto than he had originally thought.

Shouto looked down. This was it. Finally, he was going to be able to assist someone for once. Nothing, absolutely nothing was going to stop him, and all he hoped was that he would not only catch up to Izuku, but also be able to assist him in finding his mother.

Little did he know that with that map in his hand, a whole different journey would begin. A journey where he would discover just how deep this problem was.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵