CHAPTER 413: THE BATTLEFIELD WAS OUR DANCE FLOOR, LOVE

[TAMIKO]

Tamiko was already fighting other warriors, but he had time to converse with his defiant little princess.

He was never going to leave.

He would never burden Kosta.

Maybe he would ask for forgiveness later, when they were done with this field. When their lives were not at stake and more than netting, when he was sure Kosta wasn’t about to get him to fight for him.

It wouldn’t matter as much anyway because this was Tamiko’s choice. And he wasn’t about to change it, not even if Kosta tried to make sense to him. There was no time to compromise.

The sooner Kosta understood that, the better it would be for them all.

"I am not a child for you to defend always," Kosta said angrily.

This time, Tamiko stared at him before bursting out into laughter. He couldn’t believe that they were doing this in the middle of a battlefield. Surely, they could’ve left the bickering for when they got home after winning, right?

But there was something about how Kosta spoke, something about how frustrated Kosta was, that resonated with Tamiko, but the prince was fighting their enemies.

He knew their enemies would use this against both of them, and he hated that this was how shit was happening.

They lived in a world that didn’t care much for what was happening around them, and for the battle to get to this point, it was a singularly hilarious matter.

Tamiko probably had nothing sensible to say to Kosta.

"Oh, yeah? You think I’m defending you because you’re some sturdy child that doesn’t understand the language of war?" Tamiko raged suddenly, his laughter dying as he recollected himself.

He had been trying to be understanding, to let Kosta rant about what he was feeling, but he never thought this was where it could get them. The sudden change terrified him, because for Tamiko, this meant that he could lose Kosta again.

This meant that even the enemies didn’t need to attack, and that Kosta would not belong to him ever again.

Tamiko had lived through ten years of horror because of the fucking ultimatum Yilena had given him. He had suffered through the horrors of watching his Kosta be happy with Sanjiro.

He never wanted that for them, and now, as they were here, it was like everything was about to go back to the one thing that Tamiko hated the most, and he wasn’t about to compromise.

Not this time.

He had done that one too many times, and the heavens would be damned if he let himself endure that shit again. It was not fair; not to the love he had been holding onto and most certainly not to the horror that still haunted him.

Fuck, it wasn’t even thirteen hours since the worst night of his life, and he was now supposed to deal with this too on a battlefield with daring invaders? Tamiko was angry, and he had every right to be.

But then Kosta was also right.

So who would step back this time?

"Isn’t that what you have been doing? Proving to everyone else?" Kosta bit back, his anger matching Tamiko’s.

Everyone who was watching them had not expected this.

For a moment, the battlefield slowed down to watch the circus before them. Of all the ways that the ending of the battle had played out in the Grealor warriors’ minds, this was not it.

They never thought it would all come down to the broken prince and his barbaric Erasthai fighting in front of them. It was a good show, but it was too pitiful to even say much about it.

And so, they watched the obvious even as they tried to wiggle their way into the chaos and put an end to the barbarian while the prince was distracted.

It was the best of plans, only that Tamiko was always aware of his surroundings and wasn’t about to let anyone get one over on his relationship.

It was not a price he was willing to pay, not on this day and certainly not when the sun would be staring at them on the hills of a kingdom so daring and so dangerous.

"You can’t be serious. Are we really doing this? Here? In the middle of a battle? Are you fucking serious?" Tamiko asked, clearly not impressed by how shit was happening.

He hadn’t wanted it to be like this, but life was always going to be shit for them, always.

What the hell, though, right?

"You started it, remember? I don’t need saving. Yet you keep insisting on saving me. I have been to wars long before you w—" Kosta said, holding back.

He was angry.

He had every right to.

But Tamiko was equally as angry.

The prince had suffered through the years of loneliness, too. It hadn’t just been Kosta who was suffering; the decision that had been made was because of a trick that Tamiko had fallen into. A trick that had cost them both.

None of them had it any easier for the last ten years, and it had taken a lot for Tamiko to find his way back to Kosta. He hadn’t expected that this was how shit would be before him. It wasn’t fair, and he hated everything.

But that was beyond the point, because right now, there was just no way they were fighting on a battlefield. It was the worst of places yet somehow, circumstances had led them here.

Tamiko was tired of fighting, though. He was tired of the back and forth with his Erasthai. He only ever wanted to be happy. To be with Kosta by his side, yet fate was playing the worst of games with both of them.

It made no sense, and it hurt so badly.

And fuck it if they both didn’t hate it.

What else was there for them to fight about, though? What could they even begin to hold onto in a place where life stopped so abruptly, and the only thing that they ever craved was glaring at them in an unhinged way then?

"Say it! Long before I was born, right? That is how long you have been at war, no?" Tamiko said angrily. He was not in the mood for a fight, but why the hell was he even doing this?

The prince could easily walk out of the battlefield and let Kosta fight, but then that was also the problem. Tamiko hated seeing Kosta fighting for his life. He despised it when Kosta had to fight on his own.

He wanted to be there for Kosta, to let him know that no matter what happened, they would always be in it together.

Nevertheless, the concept of together was once again fading just like it did when Kosta had chosen Sanjiro over Tamiko. It was something that hurt, but what else was there for Tamiko to hold onto?

Fuck it, Tamiko wasn’t even sure what angered him more at the moment.

Everything about this bond was unhinged and filled with a special fury that pissed him off. He couldn’t keep this up, but what else was he to do when they were on a battlefield where the love of his life was becoming a stranger?

It was confusing, and Tamiko despised every bit of it.

"Yes! It is the truth, isn’t it? I don’t need you defending me! What part of that do you not understand?" Kosta cried out defeatedly.