The town came and went. He even yelled out, “Oh wait!” causing the guard to stop the carriage when they reached the village. 

“What is it? What’s wrong!?” The guard had hopped out of his seat and hurried to the carriage doors. Hironori was leaning out of the window, looking out the serene village. The guard merely sighed and started walking back to get the carriage moving. 

“Don’t you think, you know as a soldier, if he ran off he wanted to be alone? I mean, can’t we slow the pace to give him some time to relax, wherever he went to?” Hiro was leaning out of the carriage to talk to him. “I mean, we still are going after him, but there’s no need to rush it. He needs his space, so we can at least give him that time.” The soldier ended up sighing and slowing their pace. It wasn’t exactly disobeying the Emperor’s orders so he didn’t have to feel bad for doing so. He did however find it kind of the young prince to care to give Akito his space- however he could have also been doing so just for his sake. 

The carriage stopped and Hironori gave a puzzled look. “Well, why on earth would someone give me this one? Well, I suppose they couldn’t have been sure of the distance we were to travel. Fair enough.” He looked back at the driver and then at the horses. “Will we be walking the rest of the way?” 

“Oh, no sir. I couldn’t allow that. We’ll take one of the horses and go the rest of the way.” Hiro was going to mention he knew how to ride a horse himself, but decided against it and let the guard do his job. He was helped up, and they were off. It took a few minutes, but they had eventually made it to the camp grounds. The guard jumps off, leaving Hironori on the horse and leading it into the camp. The soldiers around looked up cautiously at the new intrusion before quickly realising just who walked into the camp. Hiro’s eyes scanned the campgrounds from where he sat. There were a few whistles and cat calls as the soldiers stood, wondering why the prince would visit them. Others who had seen the stress stricken Akito up close gave more weary and disapproving looks as the prince looked around. [i]’Oh right, I remember father said that the general’s tent is normally colored. He may be in there.’[/i] It looked like some of his father’s teachings paid off. 

“Sir?” 

Hiro broke from his own thoughts, noticing the multiple looks of curiosity and disapproval. It made him wonder if they already knew of his disdain for war. Unless Akito returned home and explained just how terrifying they were and how much he hated it there. At least, that’s what Hiro assumed Akito thought. “Hm? Oh, right.” He took the guard’s hand and climbed off the horse. Proper etiquette raced through his mind. There were certain ways generals and soldiers were greeted, was there not? He didn’t need another reason for his father to yell at him. Though while he was in his train of thought, his guard had already gone inside to relay the message for the prince. 

“Pardon me general, I’m here to relay a message from the king.” He cleared his throat, standing tall. “He requests for Akito to return to the palace. They are worried about him and would like to talk and sort things out.”

Outside, Hiro was quite confused as to why he was left outside, until of course he realized it was probably his father’s doing. Hironori was only there for the sole purpose to see the camp and maybe get out of the palace. The guard was the one with the actual task of retrieving the ‘stowaway bride’.